GA Russell

That's quite a find, Jim! I am aware of only the El Matador album Brasil '65 recorded for Atlantic (as well as the studio album for Capitol).

Thanks T.D.! Great link! The league ordered the Als to release Manziel, and announced that it would not approve a contract if anyone else signs him. The league says that Manziel violated the terms of his initial agreement with the CFL. But the accusation is not specific, and could concern almost anything. https://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/cfl/cfl-directs-alouettes-to-terminate-johnny-manziel-s-contract-1.5035959 https://www.cfl.ca/2019/02/27/alouettes-release-johnny-manziel/ https://www.cfl.ca/2019/02/27/oleary-manziel-als-next-steps-centre/ https://www.cfl.ca/2019/02/27/ferguson-pipkin-answer-montreal/ https://www.cfl.ca/2019/02/27/ferguson-pipkin-answer-montreal/ https://www.cfl.ca/2019/02/27/reed-we-took-a-risk-an-educated-risk-it-did-not-work-out/ https://3downnation.com/2019/02/27/alouettes-release-qb-johnny-manziel/ https://3downnation.com/2019/02/27/qa-alouettes-gm-kavis-reed-discusses-the-release-of-johnny-manziel/ https://3downnation.com/2019/02/27/ambrosie-disappointed-manziel-let-cfl-opportunity-slip-through-fingers/

Artist Title Time Thom Rotella Oddball 03:02 Thom Rotella Four On Six 04:00 Thom Rotella Come Together 04:22 Thom Rotella Storyline 04:47 Thom Rotella 'Round Midnight 04:10 Thom Rotella Monkey Bizness 03:52 Thom Rotella When I Falll In Love 07:09 Thom Rotella Besame Mucho 05:03 Thom Rotella Cristo Redento 07:00 Thom Rotella Nuze Bluze 07:25 Thom Rotella Take It With You 04:05 Thom Rotella Dawn Is Here 05:42 Thom Rotella Oddball (Radio Edit) 03:27 Thom Rotella "Storyline" Format(s): Jazz Now the second Most Added release on JazzWeek! AIRPLAY STARTS NOW www.thomrotella.com

Claudia Villela Offers Panoramic Showcase of Her Brilliant Vocal Talent on "Encantada Live," Set for April 12 Release by Taina Music Vocalist-Composer's Live Recording Features Septet, Quartet, Multiple Duos on Original Songs, Works by Brazilian Composers, Full-Length Improvisational Pieces Upcoming Shows in Lisbon, Portugal, 3/9; SFJAZZ, 3/13, 3/27, 4/4, & 6/19; Hillside Club, Berkeley, 4/26; Kuumbwa Jazz, Santa Cruz, 4/29 February 27, 2019 Vocalist-composer Claudia Villela puts her stunning, supple virtuosity on vivid display with the April 12 release of Encantada Live on her own Taina Music label. Drawn from several live performances, the album alternates between performances by a septet, a quartet featuring Villela on piano, and intimate duets with various partners. It also includes three of Villela's originals, three interpretations of key Brazilian composers, and three wholly improvised pieces by Villela and her accompanists. The sweeping panorama of Encantada Live -- only her sixth recording in a 40-year career -- is the direct result of a near-death experience in December 2017. While visiting Rio de Janeiro, Villela escaped from a terrifying electrical fire in her own apartment. Her own injuries were fairly minor, but the fire devastated her home, many keepsakes, and the masters of an album she'd been working on for two years. "It left with me with a deeper recognition of the preciousness of time. It's time to really live in the moment and move on," Villela says. "I want to put everything out. I'm not going to hold it back. This is a cathartic album." Whether by coincidence or fate, it's also an album that showcases everything that she can do. The opening "Cuscus" alone demonstrates Villela's enormous range and imagination, modulating from a guttural growl to a soprano squeak and inventing in the moment both a melody (with guitarist Bruce Dunlap) and a fully developed Portuguese lyric. The same duo creates a warm, introspective ballad on the closing "Em Paz." The nearly 15-minute "Minas" is an exquisite but multifaceted improvisation with Villela's longtime collaborator, pianist Kenny Werner. However, Encantada Live also places her remarkable abilities into the context of compositional form. Villela proffers a beautiful, wordless rendition (with guitarist Peixoto) of 20th-century Brazilian classical composer Heitor Villa-Lobos's "Bachianas #5," as well as rhythmically exciting septet versions of two popular Brazilian songs: Edu Lobo's "Viola Fora de Moda" and Alex Madureira's "Cumeno com Cuentro."In addition, she revisits three of the original pieces from her 1994 debut, Asa Verde: "Negra," with guitarist Jeff Buenz; "Jangada," with a quartet featuring Buenz, bassist Gary Brown, drummer Celso Alberti, and Villela herself on piano; and "Taina," featuring newly improvised lyrics, with the septet (Brown on bass plus Jasnam Daya Singh, piano; Ricardo Peixoto, guitar; Andy Connel, soprano saxophone; Michael Spiro, percussion; and the late drummer Paul van Wageningen). Claudia Villela was born August 27, 1961 in Rio de Janeiro. She grew up surrounded by music in her grandmother's home, beginning to make music herself when she was only a year old. She started singing in college festivals around Rio at age 15, and before long found work as a studio musician. She also started performing around the city, while developing a book of original songs featuring her lyrics and music. Initially planning to enroll in medical school, Villela decided to combine her two passions and earned a B.A. in music therapy from the Brazilian Conservatory of Music. Relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area in the mid-1980s, Villela quickly immersed herself in the region's thriving jazz scene, gaining valuable experience with the Down Beat-award winning De Anza College Jazz Singers. She studied with NEA Jazz Master Sheila Jordan and with John Robert Dunlap of the New York Metropolitan Opera before making her recording debut with 1994's Grammy-nominated Asa Verde. She has since performed and recorded with such major jazz figures as Michael Brecker, Toots Thielemans, Toninho Horta, Hermeto Pascoal, Airto, Guinga, Romero Lubambo, Mario Adnet, Dori Caymmi, and Kenny Werner (with whom she recorded her 2004 fourth album, Dream Tales, as a duo). That same year, she recorded a live performance at Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz, California, for broadcast on NPR; it was released as Live @ Kuumbwa 2004 in 2013. Encantada Live is her second live album. Claudia Villela will perform at Braço de Prata, Lisbon, Portugal on Saturday 3/9; at SFJAZZ's Joe Henderson Lab, San Francisco, on Wednesday 3/13, Wednesday 3/27, and Thursday 4/4; at the Hillside Club, Berkeley, Friday 4/26; at Kuumbwa Jazz, Santa Cruz, Monday 4/29; and at SFJAZZ's Miner Auditorium, Wednesday 6/19. Photography: Maria Camillo (with Lilu the dog), Aloizio Jordao "Encantada" EPK Web Site: claudiavillela.com

The Tierney Sutton Band "ScreenPlay Act 1: The Bergman Suite" Impacting: February 22 2019 Format(s): Jazz, Non-Commercial, NPR Artist Title Time The Tierney Sutton Band The Windmills of Your Mind 05:31 The Tierney Sutton Band What Are You Doing The Rest of Your Life 05:48 The Tierney Sutton Band How Do You Keep The Music Playing 04:20 The Tierney Sutton Band It Might Be You 06:25 The Tierney Sutton Band Ev'ry Now And Then 02:59 After 20-plus years, 8 Grammy nominations and countless performances throughout the world, L.A.-based Tierney Sutton Band has set their sights on the wide-ranging panorama of film music by releasing an ambitious 19-track collection of songs in five parts -- “ScreenPlay.” “ScreenPlay” spans the first century of American film music. The band gained firsthand experience in this idiom in 2016 when they were tapped by legendary director Clint Eastwood to score his box office hit “Sully”. The arrangements and Sutton’s readings of the songs comprising “ScreenPlay” are pure Tierney Sutton Band at the height of its powers, subtly illuminating and revolutionizing each classic, as well as introducing a few lesser-known gems. Wanting to dig ever deeper into the material, the band has chosen to present this creative, new music in a creative, new way. 5 acts, each including 3 to 5 songs, will be released as a digital EP, once a month, beginning in February of 2019. A podcast and other behind-the-scenes material that explore the songs and the films that made them so iconic will accompany each of these acts. In June of 2019, a compilation ScreenPlay CD will be released worldwide. ACT 1: THE BERGMAN SUITE Welcome to The Bergman Suite, the opening Act of “ScreenPlay”, the new project by the Tierney Sutton Band. We thought it fitting to begin our journey into the first century of American film song by sharing 5 songs by perhaps the most influential film lyricists of all time, Alan and Marilyn Bergman. The Bergmans are 3-time Oscar winners and in 1982 3 of 5 Oscar-nominated songs were theirs (they didn’t win). We open here with “The Windmills of Your Mind”, arranged by Tierney Sutton, which provided Alan and Marilyn with their first Academy Award in 1969 for “The Thomas Crowne Affair”. When the film was remade in 1999, wise producers kept the song as the main title, this time sung by Sting. The song was written as a meditation on the roiling anxiety of the film’s main character.“The Windmills of your Mind” features the music of celebrated French composer Michel Legrand as do tracks 2 and 3. “What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?”, the Bergman’s supremely touching marriage-proposal-insong- form, is presented here as a simple piano/vocal. The song needs nothing more. “How Do You Keep The Music Playing”, arranged by Trey Henry, is a vocal duet featuring Tierney Sutton and Alan Bergman himself. Bergman’s sublime vocals are not to be missed, filled with the magic you might expect expect from the 93-year old master story-teller. Tracks 4 and 5 feature music by legendary jazz pianist and composer Dave Grusin. “It Might Be You”, from “Tootsie” and arranged by Trey Henry, appears here as an intimate rumination, thinking out loud. The last track is the least known song in this collection. The theme was written by Grusin and was featured in the 1996 film “Mulholland Falls”. The Bergmans wisely took the stunning melody and created one of the most haunting songs of lost love imaginable, “Every Now and Then.” We hope you enjoy listening to the cinematic poetry of Alan and Marilyn Bergman as much as we have enjoyed spending time with these great songs. Please visit www.tierneysutton.com for supplemental interviews, videos and podcasts. Just press the “ScreenPlay” tab. We’ll see you in March 2019 for ScreenPlay Act 2 Technicolor.

Doug MacDonald Quartet "Organisms" Impacting: February 19 2019 Format(s): Jazz Artist Title Time Doug MacDonald Quartet It's You Or No One 06:49 Doug MacDonald Quartet Jazz For All Occasions 06:22 Doug MacDonald Quartet L&T 06:03 Doug MacDonald Quartet Nina Never Knew_Indian Summer 01:58 Doug MacDonald Quartet Sometime Ago 04:07 Doug MacDonald Quartet Poor Butterfly 02:31 Doug MacDonald Quartet Centerpiece 05:55 Doug MacDonald Quartet Too Late Now 05:30 Doug MacDonald Quartet Hortense 03:56 Doug MacDonald Quartet On The Alamo 07:09 Doug MacDonald - Guitar Bob Sheppard- Tenor Saxophone Carey Frank - Hammond B3 Organ Benjamin Scholz - Drums A long-time resident of Los Angeles, MacDonald was born in Philadelphia and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, leaving in 1982 to pursue the mainland’s broader music opportunities. Since then, he has created a kind of “portable” career for himself, on the West Coast, New York, Las Vegas and, more recently, internationally. He has been well featured as a sideman in live performances with Stan Getz, George Shearing, Joe Williams, Sarah Vaughan, Buddy Rich, Scott Hamilton, Richard Groove Holmes, Ray Charles, Rosemary Clooney among others. He has recorded with a virtual who’s who of jazz, including Jack Sheldon, Hank Jones, Bob Cooper, Snooky Young, Bill Holman and the Clayton/Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. Doug's latest release, "Organisms" is a homecoming of sorts. Produced and recorded in LA, this album features a cast of fantastic West Coast musicians including legendary tenor saxophonist Bob Sheppard, B3 organist Carey Frank, and drummer Ben Scholz. Says Doug, "This is the thirteenth album and the third organ project that I have had the privilege to release - not only as a band leader, but as a composer and arranger as well. Each recording project is a unique experience and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to play music with Bob, Carey, and Ben.This material on this album is fresh and the synergy between players is palpable. Thank you also to Talley Sherwood at Tritone Studios, and Robert Vosgien at Capitol Records for your recording expertise. And of course, thank you to my lovely wife Eva and son Doug for your support. I hope you enjoy this latest musical adventure." - Doug MacDonald

ECM Sokratis Sinopoulos Quartet - Metamodal release date: April 5, 2019 Sokratis Sinopoulos: lyra; Yann Keerim: piano; Dimitris Tsekouras: double bass; Dimitris Emmanouil: drums Teaser video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM4NLVintv4&feature=youtu.be Four years after the critically lauded Eight Winds the Athens-based Sokratis Sinopoulos Quartet returns with the aptly-named Metamodal. A unique band, the quartet subtly sifts a vast pool of influence, its music informed by the players' experience of folk forms, Byzantine and classical music, and many modes of improvising. The combination of Sinopoulos's lyra, with its yearning, ancient tones, and the sensitive, modern piano of Yann Keerim is particularly beguiling, and the group as a whole has made giant steps since its debut. Metamodal, featuring new pieces by Sokratis and a concluding collective improvisation, was recorded in July 2018 at Sierra Studios in Athens, and produced by Manfred Eicher. ECM Bill Frisell & Thomas Morgan - Epistrophy release date: April 12, 2019 Bill Frisell: guitar Thomas Morgan: double bass Like their acclaimed ECM release Small Town of 2017 - which The Guardian called "wistful and mesmerizing... tonally ingenious and haunting" - Epistrophy by guitarist Bill Frisell and bassist Thomas Morgan was recorded at New York City's Village Vanguard. The new album once again captures the rare empathy these two players achieve together in this intimate environment. There are further poetic takes on pieces from the duo's beloved Americana songbook ("All in Fun," "Red River Valley," "Save the Last Dance for Me"), as well as another intense version of a composition by Paul Motian ("Mumbo Jumbo"), an artist whom both the guitarist and bassist knew well. Frisell and Morgan communicate the essence of Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life" and the Frank Sinatra hit "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning," so much so that the famous words seem to hang in the air even without a singer. At the center of the album is a pair of pieces by Thelonious Monk: the funky, angular "Epistrophy" and the ruminative ballad "Pannonica." And as with "Goldfinger" on Small Town, Frisell and Morgan offer a glowing duo interpretation of a melody-rich John Barry title tune from a James Bond film - "You Only Live Twice," which had an EARLY PREMIERE last Friday via NPR Music.

ECM Dominic Miller Absinthe Dominic Miller: guitar Santiago Arias: bandoneon Mike Lindup: keyboards Nicholas Fiszman: bass Manu Katché: drums Release date: March 1, 2019 ECM 2614 B0029695-02 UPC: 6025 678 8468 2 With Absinthe, guitarist Dominic Miller has created an album colored by a distinct atmosphere. “The first thing that came to me before I wrote any tunes was the title,” he writes in his liner note. “Living in the South of France, I am fascinated by Impressionism. Sharp light and witchy mistrals, combined with strong alcohol and intense hangovers must have driven some of these artists toward insanity. Skies that are green, faces blue, perspective distorted.” While Miller’s ECM debut, Silent Light, emphasized solo and duo settings, Absinthe finds the guitarist fronting a quintet that brings his lyrical compositions to textured life. Miller, switching between nylon- and steel-string acoustic guitars, has found a key harmonic-melodic foil in the bandoneon of Santiago Arias. The vivid presence at the drum kit is Manu Katché, for years a member alongside Miller in the band of Sting. Mike Lindup’s keyboard tones can glow or add a ghostly air (as they do in such highlights as the title track), while bassist Nicholas Fiszman roots the ensemble sound. As for Miller, JazzTimes has described him as a guitarist who “milks every note, thriving on the pauses between them and whispery effects of fingers sliding across strings.” Not only was Absinthe conceived in the South of France, that’s also where Miller and band recorded the album, working with Manfred Eicher in the studio of La Buissonne, in Pernes-les-Fontaines. The ambience was ideal, Miller says: “It’s a great atmosphere in which to work. And I love collaborating with Manfred – he’s a real producer. I think back to the inspiring authenticity of those records he made with Egberto Gismonti. They were so important to me… “For my two ECM albums, and especially this new one, my initial idea of a tune can be like a simple selfie,” Miller explains. “But once we’re done working on it together, the piece becomes this rich photographic still, with all the light and shade of life in it. Manfred helps bring out the essence of the music, often pushing us out of our comfort zones in the process. But I’m up for it – we rethought, redesigned and reinterpreted every tune in the studio. I’ve made about 250 pop and rock records over the years, and that’s often a process about achieving so-called perfection. But Manfred isn’t after this kind of perfection.” Born in Argentina to an American father and Irish mother, Miller was raised in the U.S. from age 10 and then educated there and in England. The guitarist’s international mindset has only been deepened through decades touring the globe, working with the likes of Paul Simon, The Chieftains, Plácido Domingo and, most often, Sting. Miller has long been known as the latter’s right-hand man on guitar – and co-writer of “Shape of My Heart,” among others. “I’ve been influenced by Sting’s lateral sense of harmony and how he forms songs,” the guitarist says. “I try to do the same by creating a narrative with instrumental music, which I treat and arrange as songs, with verses, choruses, bridges. I’ve absorbed a lot from him about concept and arrangement, as well concision in telling a story.” Miller heard Katché’s rhythmic/coloristic touch in his ear for decades, while Fiszman plays in the guitarist’s current live group. The simpatico match of drums and bass here is highlighted by their exchanges in “Ombu,” a track named for a tree in Argentina with vast roots. Miller only recently discovered Arias, having encountered him in Buenos Aires. “I was on tour there and I went out on a night off to see a jam featuring some top local musicians. They were all pointing out this young bandoneon player. Witnessing Santiago play – this acoustic, non-tango indigenous Argentinean music, mixed with European influences – I felt a spark. I wrote the music of Absinthe with the timbre of his instrument and his sense of space in mind.” Arias’s bandoneon plays a vital role throughout the album, whether atmospherically in such pieces as the shadowy “Ténèbres” or as a soloistic voice in “Saint Vincent.” The title of the latter song refers not to Van Gogh but to the late Cameroonian guitarist Vincent Nguini, a long-time collaborator with Paul Simon and something of a mentor figure for Miller. “Vincent had such a special ‘time feel,’ as drummers like to talk about,” he says. “With the way he used time, you could hear that it was him from just a few notes.” The title track of Absinthe begins with Miller’s hands fingering the nylon strings of a small-body guitar with his characteristic “artisanal precision,” as the Irish Times put it. After two minutes of melodic development with just guitar and bandoneon, Katché’s beat comes in strikingly, boosted by Fiszman’s deep bass. The piece immediately takes on the drama of a story, with Lindup’s synthesizer line whirring subtly through the arrangement like a specter, adding something otherworldly to the narrative. “I wanted the synth to add a disrupting element, like an absinthe-induced wooziness,” Miller explains. “I’ve known Mike for years and trust implicitly what he can bring to my music, whether it’s a touch of off-kilter synth or flowing piano, as on ‘Etude’ and ‘Verveine.’ The latter song, by the way, is named for a kind of herbal tea they have in France that I like. It’s supposedly good for hangovers, so I guess the old painters might’ve used it as a calming antidote after the visions of absinthe.” ECM David Torn Sun of Goldfinger David Torn: electric guitar, live-looping, electronics Tim Berne: alto saxophone Ches Smith: drums, electronics, tanbou And – on “Spartan, Before It Hit”: Craig Taborn: electronics, piano Mike Baggetta: guitar Ryan Ferreira: guitar Scorchio String Quartet: Martha Mooke: viola/director Amy Kimball: violin Rachel Golub: violin Leah Coloff: cello ECM 2613 B0029700-02 UPC: 6025 773 2924 2 David Torn, a longstanding ECM artist, has enjoyed a particularly fruitful 21st-century with the label, releasing two albums under his own name – the solo only sky and quartet disc prezens – in addition to producing records by Tim Berne and Michael Formanek. With Sun of Goldfinger, Torn returns in a trio alongside the alto saxophonist Berne and percussionist Ches Smith (a member of Berne’s Snakeoil band who made his ECM leader debut in 2016 with The Bell). The Torn/Berne/Smith trio, also dubbed Sun of Goldfinger, features alone on two of this album’s three intense tracks of 20-plus minutes; the vast sonic tapestries of “Eye Meddle” and “Soften the Blow” – each spontaneous group compositions – belie the fact that only a trio is weaving them, with live electronics by Torn and Smith expanding the aural envelope. The third track, the Torn composition “Spartan, Before It Hit,” showcases an extended ensemble with two extra guitars, keyboards and a string quartet; it’s an otherworldly creation, ranging from hovering atmospherics to dark-hued lyricism to storming, sky-rending grandeur. Sun of Goldfinger first came together in 2010, with an invitation from Berne for Torn to join the saxophonist and a young drummer for a gig in Brooklyn. “It was intriguing from the start,” Torn recalls. “I’ve had a close friendship and deep musical relationship with Tim since the ’90s and playing live with him is always special – we push each other into new territory. And that drummer turned out to be Ches, and I thought he was really something, just burning. We played a lot shows as a trio: from Colorado to Brazil, as well as across New York City – it was a lot of fun. But when we toured Europe in 2017, that’s when it really came together. I’ve never played anything that sounds or feels quite like this.” The nearly 25-minute length of each track on Sun of Goldfinger mirrors the exploratory intensity of the trio live. Torn – who helmed the sessions in multiple New York studios – culled the high-impact tracks “Eye Meddle” and “Soften the Blow” from lengthy group improvisations. These two Sun of Goldfinger pieces saw him using the mixing process as “just a gigantic reveal – the goal being to bring to light for the listener, sonically speaking, all that was going on in the studio with the three of us,” he says. “Between our hands and our feet, Ches and I were creating a lot of sounds. He was burning on the drums, as ever, but he was also employing his own electronics. “All those sounds Ches and I are creating also give Tim something to really play off in his solos, opening a door for him to use his extended techniques, particularly high harmonics, to create sonic effects of his own, even on a purely acoustic instrument,” Torn continues. “Then there’s his ability to drive the rhythmic pulse. He’s almost unique among saxophonists in the way he can drive a rhythm. There are also episodes in ‘Spartan, Before It Hit’ of that lyricism in Tim’s playing that I’ve been trying to accent on the more recent Snakeoil records.” This album centerpiece, “Spartan, Before It Hit,” is a kaleidoscopic epic, one that expands the trio into a tentet – with the addition of two more guitarists, Mike Baggetta and Ryan Ferreira (who performs in the expanded edition of Snakeoil), keyboardist Craig Taborn (who has released several acclaimed albums as a leader on ECM) and a string quartet. This track is a blend of composition and improvisation, with the improv reflecting and extending Torn’s written material. He then used the mix as part of the compositional process, crafting a dream-like whole. Reflecting on Sun of Goldfinger, Torn says: “This isn’t jazz music or rock music. I really can’t put it into any genre classification – it’s just music made by people who care deeply about what we’re expressing and how we’re expressing it, however abstract it may feel on first listen.” *** Across a career as a guitarist, composer, improviser, producer and soundscape artist, David Torn has worked with innovators in jazz (Jan Garbarek, The Bad Plus), film music (Ryuichi Sakamoto, Carter Burwell) and rock (David Bowie, Jeff Beck, David Sylvian). Torn’s association with ECM has included the 1987 album Cloud About Mercury, featuring him alongside trumpeter Mark Isham and the latter-day King Crimson rhythm section of Tony Levin and Bill Bruford. It was the sort of music that led Guitar Player magazine to declare Torn “one of music’s Top 50 guitarists, ever.” Other Torn releases on ECM include Best Laid Plans, with drummer Geoffrey Gordon, and two albums with the Everyman Band; the guitarist also featured on Garbarek’s It’s OK to Listen to the Gray Voice. All About Jazz called Torn’s 2007 album prezens “the most fully realized of his career… boldly adventurous.” Jazzwise described this record – featuring the guitarist alongside saxophonist Tim Berne, keyboardist Craig Taborn and drummer Tom Rainey – as “a vibrating collage full of shimmering sonic shapes, a dark, urban electronic soundscape – a potent mix of jazz, free-form rock and technology that is both demanding and rewarding.” The guitarist’s follow-up to prezenswas the 2015 solo album only sky, which The New York City Jazz Record praised for its rare combination of “realism and surrealism.” Torn has also produced and mixed Berne’s ECM albums Shadow Man (2013), You’ve Been Watching Me (April 2015) and Incidentals (2017), as well as bassist-composer Michael Formanek’s large-ensemble disc, The Distance (2016).

Thanks for that song, Steve!

RIP. I heard a Tork interview on Sirius a few years ago. He stressed that when filming the show, The Monkees were actors first, and had very little free time to record the records.

I remember seeing the album of a pseudo group called The Buggs.

The Searchers have announced that they will retire next month after 57 years of performing. John McNally, the last of the original members, suffered a mild stroke in 2017. Another founder, Mike Pender, left the group decades ago, and continues to tour with a group he calls Mike Pender's Searchers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Searchers_(band) There are three collections to commemorate it all. Collected - $16.34 + $3.99 https://www.amazon.com/Collected-SEARCHERS/dp/B007F6CDHA/ The Farewell Album - $7.81 + $3.99 https://www.amazon.com/Farewell-Album-Searchers/dp/B07JYQTKNP/ When You Walk In The Room: Complete Pye Recordings 1963-1967 - $38.79 prime https://www.amazon.com/When-You-Walk-Room-Recordings/dp/B07MX27KSQ/ I can also recommend the cd of their two Sire albums, Another Night: The Sire Recordings 1979-1981 - $19.14 prime https://www.amazon.com/Another-Night-Sire-Recordings-1979-1981/dp/B076CVSCF5/

It snowed in Las Vegas today. https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-vegas-snow-20190218-story.html

June Jones is 66 today. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Jones

Don Newcombe has died at 92. RIP. My dad took me to see him pitch for Spokane in 1961.

RareNoiseRecords Presents Marilyn Mazur's Shamania An all-female band, a gathering of ten of Scandinavia's most inventive and respected female musicians. CD, LP AND MULTIPLE DIGITAL FORMATS AVAILABLE IN STORES AND ONLINE ON FEBRUARY 22, 2019 AND THROUGH WWW.RARENOISERECORDS.COM. Lotte Anker sax (DK) Josefine Cronholm vocal and percussion (SE/DK) Sissel Vera Pettersen sax and vocal (NO Hildegunn Øiseth trumpet and goat horn (NO) Lis Wessberg trombone (DK) Makiko Hirabayashi keyboards (Japan/DK) Ellen Andrea Wang bass (NO) Anna Lund drums (SE) Lisbeth Diers percussion (DK) Marilyn Mazur composer/leader, percussion, balaphone, kalimba (DK) Everyone additionally sings and plays percussion. ABOUT THE LABEL - RareNoiseRecords was founded in 2008 by two Italians, entrepreneur Giacomo Bruzzo and music producer Eraldo Bernocchi. Located in London, the label's mission is to detect and amplify contemporary trends in progressive music, by highlighting their relation to the history of the art-form, while choosing not to be bound by pre-conceptions of genre. It seeks to become a guiding light for all those enamored by exciting, adventurous and progressive sounds. For further information and to listen to excerpts, please go to www.rarenoiserecords.com. New York, February 12, 2019 - In 1978, Danish percussion master Marilyn Mazurfounded the bold, innovative Primi Band, an all-female music-theater ensemble that drew from a deep well of primal energy and experimental audacity. Four decades later, Mazur reinvents the core concepts in an adventurous new fashion with Shamania, a gathering of ten of Scandinavia's most inventive and respected female musicians. Whereas Primi Band culled its members from risk-taking but non-professional musicians,Shamania comprises ten highly respected (but equally daring) artists from the Danish, Swedish and Norwegian avant-jazz scenes. Their stunning debut album is a vivid combination of primeval forces and virtuosic musicianship, fiercely original imaginings and deeply organic emotions, communal energies and singular voices. The core tenet of Shamania, as with Primi Band before it, is the Danish term urkraft - which translates roughly as "primeval power" or "primitive force." As Mazur interprets it, urkraft represents "getting back to instinctive ways of expressing yourself. I had the vision of some kind of tribal female gathering from the past. This ritual feeling was the main idea of Primi Band and the starting vision for Shamania." The distinctive atmosphere that arises in both bands, Mazur explains, stems in part from the unique opportunity they provide. Most of these musicians are used to being the minority in male-dominated ensembles - Mazur herself has the distinction of being the only woman ever to have been a member of a Miles Davis group. While she's hesitant to differentiate musicians by gender, Mazur does stress that Shamania thus tips the scale back to a more equitable position. "It feels good to have this group to help balance out things in the world," she says. "In the jazz world, it's very much been men that have created the language. It's nice to be able to be a part of creating the modern sound of jazz. I don't think you can really hear a difference -- you can hear each individual contributing their qualities to the music - but it provides a very special feeling to everyone in the band, and allows us to bring some fresh energy to the music." Regardless of any categorization, the ten musicians that make up Shamania are a remarkable gathering of artists, with a decades-spanning age range from 28-year-old drummer Anna Lund to Mazur, taking on elder stateswoman status at 64. Danish saxophonist Lotte Anker was an original member of Primi Band, and has since gone on to perform with such esteemed improvisers as Craig Taborn, Sylvie Courvoisier, Fred Frith, Gerald Cleaver, Ikue Mori, Marilyn Crispell, Tim Berne, and countless others. Award-winning Swedish vocalist Josefine Cronholm and Danish percussionist Lisbeth Diers are both frequent collaborators of Mazur's, including as part of the now-defunct quintet Percussion Paradise. Japanese-Danish keyboardist Makiko Hirabayashi has also enlisted Mazur for her own trio as well as working in several of Mazur's other ensembles. The remaining members of Shamania are largely new acquaintances for the veteran percussionist. Norwegian vocalist and saxophonist Sissel Vera Pettersen has brought her experimental approach to the music of composers like John Hollenbeck, Theo Bleckmann, and Chick Corea, while trumpeter Hildegunn Øiseth (also from Norway) offers the unfamiliar sound of her hand-made goat horn to Shamania's already wide-ranging palette. Lis Wessberg is one of the leading trombonists in Denmark, where she's played with such world-renowned artists as Randy Brecker, Ray Charles, and Kid Creole and the Coconuts. Norwegian bassist and singer Ellen Andrea Wang blends genres in new and unprecedented ways, merging jazz and pop elements with a unique balance of the lyrical and the rough, the acoustic and the electric, creating a unique sound with her own trio as well as the critically acclaimed indie-jazz band Pixel. Swedish drummer Anna Lund is the founder of the uncategorizable indie-jazz band Hurrakel. Live, Shamania also features the improvising dancer Tine Erica Aspaas, reinvigorating the ancient bond between music, percussion and dancing while joining the ensemble in forging new paths forward. "I've always been very much into dancing when I play music," Mazur stresses. "It's not even a conscious thing; my approach to playing is just naturally very physical and also very visual -- at least that's what I hear from people. When people go to hear concerts they're looking at all these musicians playing, so it really adds a lot to the music to have someone concentrate on visualizing the music with their movement." "New Secret" opens the album with the insistent, rhythmic chanting of an invocation. The cyclic piece is built on one of the core elements that Mazur has carried forward from Primi Band, which she calls "Primi ostinatos." These small, repeated sonic units were inspired by the minimalist composers of the 1970s, game-changing pioneers like Philip Glass, Mike Oldfield and Steve Reich. Mazur put her own spin on that lineage, however, imbuing these repetitions with a more vigorous momentum, her rhythmic impulses in conflict with the minimalists' inherently static compositions. "Rytmeritual" and the later "Kalimbaprimis" are also made up of these ostinatos, in this case two variations on the same melody and repeated figures. Both pieces reveal Mazur's deeply personal absorption and reinterpretation of diverse musical cultures and traditions, emerging with hints of Indonesian gamelan and African folk traditions. Mazur insists that these globe-spanning accents are unintentional, arising organically from her expansive tastes rather than any attempt at some kind of world music fusion. "I listen to a lot of different music, and of course it influences me and becomes part of my subconscious musical language," she says. "But I write more by having visions and dreams and putting them into the music. The tribal feeling of the music in Shamania might draw parallels to gamelan music, to African music, to Indian music. But it's not a conscious choice to use those musical languages." "CHAAS" is one of several pieces drawn from the Primi Band repertoire. This piece takes its name from the Danish notation for the four notes of the basic melody - in English, these would be C, B natural, A, and A flat. The origins of the self-explanatory "Old Melody" may date even further back - Mazur says the tune has been around so long she can't remember when she conceived it originally - but it has remained on the shelf until now, unused but memorable enough to emerge decades later to find its proper place in this group. "Fragments" is a free improvisation ripple effect, with each member of the ensemble contributing a brief exclamation, which is responded to and carried forward by the next artist in line. It's something of a functional piece on the bandstand, serving to introduce each member of the band in turn through their own musical voice. "Space Entry Dance" enjoys a similar position, its African-inspired melody used to usher the musicians and dancer onstage during live performances; here, it closes the album on a thrilling, upbeat note. "Time Ritual" is another composition conceived for the live stage, usually a showcase for Aspaas, with the musicians reacting in real time to the dancer's improvised movements. In the studio, without the dancer present, it's transformed into a sonic sculpture, built on the hypnotic rhythms of human breath. "Crawl Out & Shine," with its celebratory, sinuous melody, is the sole piece on the album with lyrics. It was written after Mazur won the prestigious JAZZPAR Prize in 2001, and entreats the audience to join in the band's communal spirit, to enjoy life and music together with the musicians. "Behind Clouds" is a landscape rendered in percussion, a solo improvisation by Mazur that strives to illustrate the diverse colors of light streaming through the clouds as the sun sets over the ocean. "Shabalasa" combines the name of Shamania with the balafon from Mali, which Mazur plays with unbridled joy. "Heartshaped Moon," like the majority of the album, was composed specifically for Shamania, reflecting on the powers of the moon and its echo in the female cycle. Vera's ferocious vocal improvisations, engaged in a back and forth with Diers' tribal percussion, gives the feel of a frenzied primitive ceremony to "Surrealistic Adventure." The two brief pieces titled "Momamajobas" were written for Mazur's duet performance with pianist Jon Balke at the 2008 Moldejazz Festival, its name a combination of MOlde, MArilyn MAzur, and JOn BAlke. They bookend a dialogue between the percussionist and Anker called "Talk for 2." Shamania is the latest stunning venture in a consistently intrepid career. Since she emerged on the Danish scene in the mid 1970s with Primi Band and the fusion group Six Winds, Mazur has been an invariably original percussionist and composer. She toured the world with Miles Davis as well as the Gil Evans Orchestra and the Wayne Shorter Quintet in the 1980s, before returning to her own visionary music with the 7-piece international orchestra Future Song, then later with the Marilyn Mazur Group, Celestial Circle and Mystic Family, among other ground-breaking ensembles. At the same time she spent more than a decade touring and recording with Norwegian sax giant Jan Garbarek. Video (Jazzahead 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPMU8SAIv70 TRACKS 1. New Secret 5:59 (solo: Lotte Anker) 2. Rytmeritual 5:01 (solo: Josefine Cronholm) 3. CHAAS 5:40 (soli: Hildegunn Øiseth & Makiko Hirabayashi) 4. Old Melody 5:30 5. Fragments 1:36 6. Crawl Out & Shine 3:27 (solo: Lis Wessberg) 7. Behind Clouds 3:30 (solo: Marilyn Mazur) 8. Time Ritual 3:06 9. Shabalasa 4:54 (soli: Marilyn Mazur & Lis Wessberg) 10. Heartshaped Moon 5:43 (soli: Makiko Hirabayashi & Sissel Vera) 11. Surrealistic Adventure 3:12 (soli: Sissel Vera & Lisbeth Diers) 12. Momamajobas 1 0:20 13. Talk for 2 2:06 (duo: Lotte Anker & Marilyn Mazur) 14. Momamajobas 2 0:23 15. Kalimbaprimis 3:52 16. Space Entry Dance 4:24 (soli: Hildegunn Øiseth & Lotte Anker) All compositions by Marilyn Mazur except: Fragments by Shamania Surrealistic Adventure by Mazur, Diers, Pettersen Talk for 2 by Mazur, Anker Produced by Marilyn Mazur Recorded by Jan Erik Kongshaug in Rainbow Studio, Oslo May 13+14, 2017 Mixed august 2017 by Jan Erik Kongshaug Mastered by Martin Abrahamsen, Rainbow Studio 2018 Cover painting "The Red Forest" by Bitte Cecilie Bang Graphic art / Layout by Petulia Mattioli

RareNoiseRecords Presents Dave Liebman, Adam Rudolph, Hamid Drake CHI A transcendent collaboration deeply possessed of fresh inspiration and deep roots, ancient traditions and modern invention. CD, LP AND MULTIPLE DIGITAL FORMATS AVAILABLE IN STORES AND ONLINE FEBRUARY 22, 2019 AND THROUGHWWW.RARENOISERECORDS.COM. Dave Liebman soprano and tenor saxophones, piano ("Formless Form"), wooden recorder Adam Rudolph hand drumset (kongos, djembe, tarija) piano ("Becoming"), sintir, multi-phonic vocal, percussion, electronic processing Hamid Drake drumset, vocal, frame drum, percussion ABOUT THE LABEL - RareNoiseRecords was founded in 2008 by two Italians, entrepreneur Giacomo Bruzzo and music producer Eraldo Bernocchi. Located in London, the label's mission is to detect and amplify contemporary trends in progressive music, by highlighting their relation to the history of the art-form, while choosing not to be bound by pre-conceptions of genre. It seeks to become a guiding light for all those enamored by exciting, adventurous and progressive sounds. For further information and to listen to excerpts, please go to www.rarenoiserecords.com New York, February 12, 2019 - Chi brings together these three master musicians for a breathtaking excursion into spontaneous composition, an extended, adventurous set of free improvisation that maintains a through line of resilient architecture and unexpected twists and turns. Nowhere revealing the tenuous moments that might be expected in an initial collaboration, the music is vivid and powerful from beginning to end, evoking timeless traditions while surging forward with ferocious abandon. "Taoism is all about being in tune with our true nature," Rudolph explains. "Chi is all about the yin and yang of receptivity and action. Musically, that becomes the ebb and flow of listening and generating ideas. The music on Chi was so successful because everyone was listening and letting the music happen in a very natural, organic, spontaneous way." Chi captures what was, until that moment, the only time these three pioneering artists had shared the stage together. Recorded on a spring evening at The Stone at the New School in New York City, the freely improvised set is fueled both by the vitality of new encounters and the unparalleled chemistry of longstanding relationships. "There's real freedom going on in this music," Rudolph continues. "I feel like anything that I can imagine, Dave and Hamid will be able to hear and understand it, and respond to it through their creative action." Rudolph and Drake share a nearly half-century of history together, dating back to their teenage years in Chicago. The two met in a downtown drum shop when both were 14 years old, and have since enjoyed a profound personal and creative friendship. In the decades since they're worked together with such greats as Don Cherry, Yusef Lateef, Fred Anderson, Pharoah Sanders and Hassan Hakmoun and in each other's ensembles. "We grew up sharing a similar pursuit," Drake says. "The music, of course; not only the history of the various musical traditions that we're interested in but also the cosmology of those traditions, the spiritual practices that informed or fed those musical genres." In both Drake and Rudolph, that spiritual element has fueled a never-ending search that has led both to constantly pursue new avenues of expression and exploration. Traveling those parallel pathways, that continual seeking has allowed their decades of collaboration to be renewed and invigorated each time they've convened. "When you've known someone for a long time but you also share a creative pursuit, that feeds into and gives energy to the relationship," Drake says. "My relationship with Adam continues to be refueled. It's not just the embers; new logs are always being put on the fire." The addition of Liebman's singular voice certainly stokes that already blazing flame. While this recording marks the veteran saxophonist's first meeting with Drake, he's been enjoying a fruitful collaboration with Rudolph over the last several years. The pair first worked together during another of the percussionist's residencies at the original Stone in 2016, then expanded to a trio with the inventive Japanese-born percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani for the RareNoise release The Unknowable. Long before that, however, Rudolph and Drake had deeply immersed themselves in Liebman's voice via his influential work with such icons as Miles Davis and Elvin Jones. "Dave Liebman was one of the people who was committed to pushing the music forward," Drake says. "When Adam and I were studying Miles' music, at the time when he started moving into other dimensions, Dave was a strong force in that movement. So as players coming up and trying to delve into that, he was one of the exemplars for us. And he continues to remain open to many different types of music and musical vocabularies." Liebman has always found a great source of inspiration in the sound of the drums, making him an ideal partner for the two virtuosic percussionists. As far back as 1974, his Liebman's second album as a leader was titled Drum Ode and featured a stellar gathering of percussionists from various traditions that included Bob Moses, Barry Altschul, Badal Roy, Patato Valdez, Collin Walcott and Jeff Williams. Rudolph pays Liebman the high compliment of calling him a "rhythmist," a term he reserves for only the most simpatico of improvisers. "Not every 'melody' player is a rhythmist," he explains. "That means having a really evolved sense of phrasing and timing. Dave went through the Elvin Jones and Miles Davis schools, and you have to be a supreme rhythmist to go through those experiences. Hamid and I have developed a unique language together, and Liebman can not only hang with that but thrive in it and add to the mix with a multiplicity of layers and interweaving thematic threads." "The drum has always been a focal point of my playing career," Liebman says. "The more the better. In this case, when I turned around and saw what these two guys had in back of me, it was like a Hollywood set. If you sit in the middle of all that rhythm, you're definitely going to play something different and hopefully adventurous." That battery of instrumentation includes Rudolph's trademark hand drumset, which includes kongos, djembe and Tarija, as well as a variety of other percussion instruments and the three-stringed Gnawa lute known as the sintir. Drake supplements his drumset prowess with the thunderous frame drum and his own arsenal of percussion. In addition, both Rudolph and Liebman take turns at the Stone's piano, while Rudolph adds multiphonic vocals as well as the limitless possibilities offered by electronic processing. Liebman is particularly excited by the transformative effect of Rudolph's electronics, an interest that dates back to the percussionist's days in the groundbreaking electronic music program at Oberlin College. "I love the different textural elements it contributes," Liebman says. "If my back is turned and I hear something going on, I don't know if it's coming from Adam or from Hamid, from a machine or form outer space." The album initiates with otherworldly electronic shimmers on "Becoming," as the sound of bamboo flute is mutated into ricocheting breaths against the stark tolling of piano keys and Drake's subtle interjections on his cymbals. The piece builds in intensity with the entrance of Liebman's soulful tenor before abruptly dissipating. "Flux" begins with the subtle, interlocking rhythms of Rudolph and Drake, which Liebman then weaves a serpentine path through and around. The momentum builds like an avalanche before hanging suspended for a moment on the saxophonist's breathy soprano. His wisps of melody become warped into spirals of sound via Rudolph's processed echoes, which Drake engages in a playful tug of war. A suspenseful, prodding dialogue between the two percussionists opens "Continuum," eventually pierced by the plaintive wail of Liebman's soprano, establishing a tension that is maintained thrillingly through the remainder of the piece. "Formless Form" begins on a dark, ominous note with Liebman's ruminative piano accented by faint percussion atmospherics. The piece is a masterpiece of slow build, from the gripping use of space to an exhilarating cavalcade of discordant eruptions. The compelling power of the drums is evident in the rapturous conversation that opens the album's longest piece, "Emergence." The instant rapport of these three masters is nowhere more in evidence than in the sustained structure and organic evolutions of this 14-minute piece, which moves from the sinuous dance of Liebman's soprano with Rudolph's vocals to hypnotic grooves and wrenching howls. Rudolph's sintir provides the foundation for album closer "Whirl," utterly mesmerizing in its fluid momentum. While the life force it attempts to describe has been given many names across a wide swath of cultures, the trio chose the Taoist word Chi due to Rudolph's and Drake's shared study of the Chinese martial art and health exercise T'ai chi ch'uan. "This life philosophy has informed our worldview," Rudolph says. "Being in tune with each other's chi and the chi around and about us is where this group works really well. Approaching the musical moment with humility and receptivity: that's the philosophy of this music." TRACKS 1. Becoming 2:53 2. Flux 13:11 3. Continuum 6:00 4. Formless Form 8:57 5. Emergence 14:56 6. Whirl 9:49 Recorded @ the Stone, New York City. MAY 8, 2018 by Rashaan Carter and Emanuel Ruffler. Mixed and mastered by James Dellatacoma at Orange Music Sound Studio, New Jersey. Adam Rudolph appears courtesy of metarecords.com. Dave Liebman plays Keilworth saxophones, Alexander reeds and tenor mouthpiece, Silverstein ligatures and LeBayle soprano sax mouthpiece. Music composed by Dave Liebman, Adam Rudolph and Hamid Drake. Published by RareNoisePublishing (PRS). Cover Photos by Adam Rudolph. Design by Sylvain Leroux. Produced by Adam Rudolph & Dave Liebman. Executive Producer for RareNoiseRecords: Giacomo Bruzzo. Cat. No. : RNR102/ RNR102LP

RANDY BRECKER ROCKS & NDR BIGBAND - THE HAMBURG RADIO JAZZ ORCHESTRA With DAVID SANBORN, ADA ROVATTI, WOLFGANG HAFFNER CD AND MULTIPLE DIGITAL FORMATS AVAILABLE IN STORES AND ONLINE ON FEBRUARY 22, 2019 AND THROUGH WWW.PILOORECORDS.COM. RELEASED IN EUROPE AND JAPAN VIA JAZZLINE RECORDS. Randy Brecker trumpet David Sanborn alto saxophone Ada Rovatti tenor & soprano saxophones Wolfgang Haffner drums AND NDR Bigband - The Hamburg Radio Jazz Orchestra New York, February 14, 2019 - This CD came to fruition after two successful tours featuring Randy Brecker fronting the NDR Bigband - The Hamburg Radio Jazz Orchestra [please note the spelling: Bigband versus Big Band]. Arranger/Conductor Jörg Achim Keller handled works Randy composed from different periods of his career. The tours were so well received that the "higher-ups" in the NDR organization gave the green light to record everything in a studio situation. Jörg's idea was to have the original three-horn front line of the Brecker Brothers Band augmented by the NDR Bigband, with an extended woodwind section featuring double reeds such as oboe and bassoon, and extensive woodwind doubling like bass clarinets and flutes, etc. for coloring. Original Brecker Brothers Band member alto saxophonist David Sanborn was brought in, along with Ada Rovatti on tenor and soprano saxophones, and world famous drummerWolfgang Haffner. Ada Rovatti (Randy's wife) has been a member of the Brecker Brothers Band Reunion since its inception, has had a successful recording career of her own, and has continued the tradition of 'saxophonistic excellence' in the Brecker family. The end results are organic big band arrangements, which augment the concepts behind Brecker's original compositions. Along with the other soloists - all regular members of the NDR Bigband - this CD is a spirited romp, one that will stand the test of time. Have fun listening, there is never a dull moment! For further information, please go to: http://randybrecker.com/ TRACKS 1. First Tune Of The Set [8:08] 2. Adina [6:16] 3. Squids [6:38] 4. Pastoral [7:22] 5. The Dipshit [6:22] 6. Above And Below [7:32] 7. Sozinho [7:26] 8. Rocks [6:54] 9. Threesome [6:33] All Randy Brecker compositions from different periods.

Singer Carolyn Fitzhugh Demonstrates Flourishing Vocal & Compositional Chops on "Living in Peace," Set for March 15 Release by IYOUWE Records Recording Produced by Mark Ruffin Features Eight "New Standards" & Four Originals, Arranged by Pianist-Composer Amina Figarova & Performed by All-Star Ensemble with Special Guest, Jazz Legend Freddy Cole February 18, 2019 Carolyn Fitzhugh's soul-infused jazz vocals attain new heights with her March 15 release of Living in Peace, for Lenny White's IYOUWE Records. Fitzhugh's second album also finds the Chicago native in esteemed company. Produced by Grammy nominee Mark Ruffin and given lush arrangements by state-of-the-art pianist and composer Amina Figarova, the recording features Figarova's working band -- a murderer's row of major jazz musicians that includes tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery, guitarist Rez Abbasi, and drummer Rudy Royston -- and, on one track, the legendary Freddy Cole. "I can't tell you what a thrill that was for me," says Fitzhugh. "When Mark asked me would I like to sing with Freddy Cole, I couldn't believe it." Elder and fellow Chicagoan Cole appears in a sly duet with Fitzhugh on Ivan Lins's "I'm Not Alone," one of eight "new standards" on Living in Peace. Brazilian singer and percussionist Nanny Assis joins her on another tune, his cowritten "Intimate Acquaintances" from the 2016 musical Rio Uphill. Among the other jazzed-up modern staples are a lively take on the Average White Band's "Queen of My Soul"; Gil Scott-Heron's startlingly tender "Combinations"; and "Strollin'," Prince's swinging George Benson pastiche. Amina Figarova, Carolyn Fitzhugh, Mark Ruffin. Alongside these scintillating interpretations, however, are four of Fitzhugh's own original compositions. "Mark said he was impressed with my writing and wanted to showcase it," she says. The selections include the fragile, wounded title track; the funky "Wish I Knew"; the upbeat charmer "Once Upon a Lover"; and "In the Autumn," a sweet bossa nova that also features a bravura bass solo by Yasushi Nakamura. Fitzhugh's elevated technical accomplishment on Living in Peace is not incidental. While she received acclaim for her 2016 debut album, Simply Amazing, Ruffin felt that her voice needed further development before she recorded a follow-up. Fitzhugh accepted his constructive criticism gamely, even agreeing to work with vocal coaches to hone her instrument. (Among other things, the coaches helped Fitzhugh discover that she was not an alto, as she had long believed, but a mezzo-soprano.) Her self-improvement efforts are evident on the new album, which shines not only with moments of grand virtuosity but with attention to the smallest of details: the precision, in short, that marks the truest and most dedicated of artists. Born in Chicago on May 16, 1961, Carolyn Fitzhugh began taking classical piano lessons at the age of five. She became enchanted with all kinds of music through the songs she heard on the radio -- songs like Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly With His Song," which she started playing when she ventured into playing popular sheet music at about nine. Fitzhugh sang in her high school chorus and played piano in a jazz combo, dreaming of becoming a professional musician. At her family's insistence she studied accounting at Chicago's Roosevelt University, but supplemented that education with evening vocal and piano courses at Bloom School of Jazz. Even after she embarked on a 30-year career as an accountant and analyst for the federal government, she continued nursing her dream, sitting in with musicians at various clubs and restaurants and singing for two years straight as part of the legendary Von Freeman's weekly jam session. In 2011, with her children growing up, Fitzhugh made the decision to begin a six-year retirement plan from her accounting job and devote herself full-time to singing and songwriting. She retired in the summer of 2017. In 2014, she began recording her first album, Simply Amazing, in a sextet setting featuring guitarist Larry Brown Jr. and pianist Stu Mindeman. Upon its release in 2016, Fitzhugh was lauded as "an artist of the first order," with "that something extra that inspires you to keep an ear cocked in her direction." That cocked ear finds its reward on Living in Peace. Carolyn Fitzhugh will be performing at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago on Tuesday 8/13 and will be announcing other Chicago-area dates in the coming months. Photography: Nick Carter Carolyn Fitzhugh "Living in Peace" EPK Web Site: CarolynFitzhughMusic.com

Altec Lansing - Baby Boom Portable Bluetooth Speaker - $9.99 https://www.bestbuy.com/site/altec-lansing-baby-boom-portable-bluetooth-speaker-black/5844900.p

So Concord has licensed Prestige material to Ace?

That's plausible, Brad, but I read an article about cars in the Wall St. Journal two weeks ago that I think is relevant. The middle class is shrinking. Sales of sedans have collapsed. Coincidence? I think not. I believe that the sales of box sets have never returned to their 2007 eBay price levels. (Felser might know!) It could be that not enough people have enough disposable income for 6-CD box sets. With a smaller middle class, I suspect that price point has become as important as value.

kinuta, my sister gave me that for my 2015 birthday. I guess I ought to read it too!

ORNETTE COLEMAN: Something Else!!!! - $1.95 https://www.hamiltonbook.com/ornette-coleman-something-else

ECM Larry Grenadier - The Gleaners Digital release date: February 15 CD and Vinyl: February 22, 2019 Larry Grenadier: double bass Larry Grenadier solo performances: March 15 New York, NY Zürcher Gallery March 22 Knoxville, TN Big Ears Festival Larry Grenadier's The Gleaners is a profound and highly creative album, harvesting influences from many sources, its title inspired by Agnès Varda's film The Gleaners and I. In between his own pieces here, including a dedication to early hero Oscar Pettiford, Grenadier explores compositions by George Gershwin, John Coltrane, Paul Motian, Rebecca Martin and Wolfgang Muthspiel. "The process for making this record began with a look inward," Larry writes in his liner note, "an excavation into the core elements of who I am as a bass player. It was a search for a center of sound and timbre, for the threads of harmony and rhythm that formulate the crux of a musical identity." The result is an important addition to ECM's series of distinguished solo bass albums. The Gleaners was recorded at New York's Avatar Studios in December 2016 and produced by Manfred Eicher.