GA Russell

ECM Jakob Bro Returnings Jakob Bro: guitar Palle Mikkelborg: trumpet, flugelhorn Thomas Morgan: double bass Jon Christensen: drums ECM 2546 B0028101-02 UPC: 6025 670 5850 2 “Danish guitarist Jakob Bro creates magical music, impossible to categorize”, wrote Downbeat, reviewing his album Streams. On Returnings, the magic is intensified as Bro and musical soul-mate Thomas Morgan join forces with two distinguished elders of European jazz, trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg and drummer Jon Christensen. It’s an inspired combination: Bro’s watercolor guitar sounds, Mikkelborg’s soft, sometimes Milesian flugelhorn, Morgan’s impeccable choice of notes, and Christensen’s free-floating drumming. These components add up to one of the prettiest and subtlest jazz albums of recent times. The theme of “returnings” is central. The album opens with a new version of “Oktober”, picking up the story from Bro’s album Gefion. In recent years, Jakob’s trio with Thomas Morgan and Joey Baron has, happily, gained a strong following. Meanwhile, the guitarist had also been looking for a context in which to continue his association with Jon Christensen. Returnings provides this. It also reunites Christensen with Palle Mikkelborg for the first time on ECM since Terje Rypal’s Vossabrygg (recorded in 2003), and marks the drummer’s return to playing after a break of more than a year. “I never considered the first trio to be a one off”, says Bro, agreeing that bassist Morgan plays differently with Christensen than in the group with Joey Baron. “In some ways Thomas is a very socially-skilled bass player! He’s picking up on Jon’s ideas, he’s making the melody sound better and he’s also accompanying each of us in the improvised sections. It’s incredible what he does simultaneously.” Bro has admired Palle Mikkelborg’s playing for as long as he can remember. “I’ve known Palle since I was a kid,” he says. “I was playing trumpet myself, then, and listening to him a lot.” Both musicians live in Copenhagen, “and the scene is quite small, so we’ve crossed paths quite often. A few years ago, we were talking about collaborating on a large-scale music for choir. Then we decided to concentrate first on more improvised music. So I called Jon and Thomas and invited them to play with us. We did two concerts together with this formation in 2014 which really made me think about the potential. And Palle and I would meet, talk, drink wine and play a bit every few weeks, and gradually ideas for the album came together.” Working towards the music for this session, Bro and Mikkelborg began with the title track. “The main part of that is Palle’s. He had come up with a composition based on the letters ECM and Manfred Eicher’s name – similar in a way to his composition ‘Aura’ that he’d done for Miles Davis - almost a mathematical construction. We started improvising on that and developing it and it became, I think, an essential part of the program.” It seems to contain flashes of ECM history in its source code, and the way that Christensen and Palle Mikkelborg interact and overlap here is likely to make older listeners and scholars recall the tonalities and textures of 1970s albums like Waves and Descendre. Nonetheless, following Christensen’s free drumming, and the independence of the four voices moving in the transparent mix, leaves a deeper impression of music both modern and timeless. “I think it’s both fragile and strong at the same time,” says Bro of the music’s contrasting attributes, “and I love the way Jon very often won’t give you the obvious stressed rhythm you might expect. When Palle is playing strong lines, Jon is heading somewhere else in his own way. To my ears that’s really interesting.” For playing the unexpected in a jazz context, Jon Christensen has few rivals, though one of them would have been the late Paul Motian, erstwhile employer of both Bro and Morgan. The piece “Hamsun” here, dedicated to the Norwegian author of such classics as Hunger and Mysteries, was also partly inspired by Motian. “Paul Motian had talked a lot about Knut Hamsun when we toured together, and that got me reading the books…This is an older piece which I’d written originally for Kenny Wheeler to play.” The version of the tune on Returnings is played as a duet by Bro and Morgan. Mikkelborg’s piece “View” begins with Christensen and Morgan in duo, with Palle and Jakob introducing the theme only after the halfway mark. Bro: “This is really a collaborative album, the outcome of a creative session with good input from everybody. Musically, any one of us could be considered the ‘leader’.” One of the most touching pieces is “Song for Nicolai”, for Danish bassist Nicolai Munch-Hansen, who passed away last year, with soulful playing from both Mikkelborg and Bro. “Oktober” was included at the suggestion of Manfred Eicher. “It’s also a piece that Palle likes to play, and at the mixing stage it was becoming clear that this version had a special character.” The tune “Lyskaster”, also heard on Gefion, is dedicated to the memory of Jakob Bro’s father. “On Gefion, we had just touched the melody [in a version more spacious and textural]. Here, Palle and I play it together, and that felt good. Also, my father was a trumpet player, too, and liked Palle’s sound. So, I was thinking about that as well.” Returnings was recorded in July 2016 at Oslo’s Rainbow Studio and produced by Manfred Eicher. Further ECM projects with Jakob Bro are in preparation. Next up: a live album with Thomas Morgan and Joey Baron, recorded in New York. The Bro/Mikklelborg/Morgan/Christensen quartet will be playing some of the festivals this summer, including the Copenhagen Jazz Festival. More details soon. ECM Arild Andersen/Paolo Vinaccia/Tommy Smith In-House Science Arild Andersen: double-bass Paolo Vinaccia: drums Tommy Smith: tenor saxophone Release date : March 23rd 2018 ECM 2594 B0028100-02 UPC: 6025 671 6897 3 Norwegian master bassist Arild Andersen’s trio with big-toned Scottish tenorist Tommy Smith and Italian-born powerhouse drummer Paolo Vinaccia is one of the most viscerally exciting jazz small groups of the present moment. Some of its energies are arguably best captured in a live context, and here the three musicians deliver a characteristically smoking performance, recorded at the PKS Villa Rothstein in Bad Ischl, Austria, September 2016. The trio’s earlier concert recording, Live At Belleville, was issued a decade ago to rave reviews and a shower of awards. “Absolutely and unreservedly marvellous” said the BBC Music Magazine. “How often do just three musicians produce music as vast and panoramic in its scale and vision?” asked Jazzwise rhetorically. In recent interviews, Andersen has reflected on the group’s work method. “In the trio everyone is equal. Tommy might play the melody instrument, but he can also be an accompanist, and Paolo and I are the rhythm section but either of us can also be the lead voice… We are all soloists or rhythm section, the three of us simultaneously. It’s all to do with interplay, and as a trio we have developed quite a chemistry. Tommy is very good at listening to the bass and drums when he plays solo, and he leaves spaces for us to come up front again.” This is evident throughout this program of Andersen compositions, and not least on the album’s longest track “Science” which flies forth at breakneck tempo and keeps changing its angle of attack. Smith’s iron grip on its swerving rhythms is as profound as that of his partners and Andersen, equally, is as eloquent a soloist as the outstanding saxophonist. “Mira” was the title track of the trio’s studio album of 2014, originally conceived by Arild as a “Sunday morning album”. It opens In-House Science, transformed by the momentum of the night-time live performance. The same goes for “Blussy”, already powerful in the studio version, it is elevated to a new level of intensity in the rivetingly dynamic performance here, capped by overblown saxophone. Andersen’s commitment to burning energy music is of course not a new development but a continuation: in the early 1970s he played urgent streams-of-sound music in sax/bass/drum trios with Sam Rivers and Barry Altschul, with Juhani Aaltonen and Edward Vesala, and with Jan Garbarek and Vesala (see Triptkyon). The trio with Smith and Vinaccia extends this distinguished tradition on its own terms. “North of the North Wind”, thematically connected to an earlier Andersen cycle – refer to the 1997 release Hyperborean – begins with Arild playing his bass together with a sampler to create rich quasi-orchestral sonorities before Smith enters and the piece drifts into free ballad territory, with moving statements from tenor sax and double bass. “In-House”, in its full-throated exultation a sort of partner piece to “Outhouse” on the Live AtBelleville set, brings the album to a triumphant close, incorporating along the way solos by each of the trio members. As well as bracketing two song-titles together, album title In-House Science alludes to the venue where this fiery music was documented, the PKS Villa Rothstein, whose history has a connection to scientific inquiry, the “PKS” standing for Pythagorus Kepler System. The PKS Organization is devoted to furthering the study of natural energy as outlined by Viktor Schauburger and other unconventional researchers. The launch of In-House Science is celebrated with concerts in Japan, where the trio is joined by guest pianist Makoto Ozone for performances in Tokyo, Nagoya and Yokohama. * Arild Andersen was born in Oslo in 1945. He has been an ECM artist for almost 50 years, first recording for the label in 1970 on Afric Pepperbird with Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal and Jon Christensen. In the same period, he worked with Scandinavian residents Don Cherry and George Russell and backed a long line of visiting Americans – from Sonny Rollins to Chick Corea. After a New York sojourn in the early 1970s that found him working with Sam Rivers, Paul Bley, Steve Kuhn and Sheila Jordan, he returned to Norway and began leading his own bands. His first ECM leader dates were revisited in the 2010 box set Green In Blue: Early Quartets. Arild Andersen has issued more than 20 albums as a leader or co-leader for ECM, along the way making listeners aware of talents including Jon Balke, Tore Brunborg, Nils Petter Molvaer and Vassilis Tsabropoulos, all of whom first came to international attention as young musicians with Andersen bands. In 2008 he received the Jazz Musician of the Year award from France’s Académie du Jazz. Paolo Vinaccia was born in Italy in 1954, and has been based in Norway since 1979. He has toured and recorded with musicians including Terje Rypdal, Jon Christensen, Bendik Hofseth, Ketil Bjørnstad, Palle Mikkelborg, David Darling, Dhafer Youssef, Mike Mainieri and many others. On ECM he appears on Terje Rypdal’s Crime Scene, Vossabrygg, and Skywardsalbums, as well as Arild Andersen’s Hyperborean, Electra and Live at Belleville. Releases under his own name include the live box set Very Much Alive (Jazzland, 2010) with Rypdal, Mikkelborg, Wesseltoft and Ståle Storløkken. Saxophonist Tommy Smith, born in Edinburgh in 1967, made his mark on the Scottish jazz scene with his first album Giant Strides, recorded when he was sixteen, in 1983. That same year he won a scholarship to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston. There, he formed the group Forward Motion, and also joined Gary Burton’s band, with which he appeared on the ECM album Whiz Kids in 1986. He has since released more than twenty albums under his own name for numerous labels, including his own Spartacus imprint. Smith has worked in small groups and big bands, recording and touring with Joe Lovano, David Liebman, Benny Golson, Gary Burton, Chick Corea, Tommy Flanagan, John Scofield, Miroslav Vitous, Jack DeJohnette and many more. He has composed for and performed with classical orchestras and ensembles including the Orchestra of St. John's Square, the Scottish Ensemble, the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra and the Paragon Ensemble. Smith founded the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra in 1995, and remains its director. The orchestra is heard on the ECM album Celebration, with Arild Andersen as principal soloist. ECM ECM Jakob Bro - Returnings release date March 23, 2018 Palle Mikkelborg: trumpet, flugelhorn; Jakob Bro: guitar; Thomas Morgan: double bass; Jon Christensen: drums "Danish guitarist Jakob Bro creates magical music, impossible to categorize", wrote Downbeat recently. On Returnings the magic is intensified as Bro and musical soul-mate Thomas Morgan reconnect with two living legends of European jazz, trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg and drummer Jon Christensen. It's a wonderful combination: Bro's watercolor guitar sounds, Mikkelborg's soft Milesian flugelhorn, Morgan's impeccable choice of notes, and Christensen's free-floating drumming. These components add up to one of the prettiest and subtlest jazz albums of recent times. Returnings was recorded in July 2016 at Oslo's Rainbow Studio and produced by Manfred Eicher.

I got this yesterday too. This is the first time I could get in since maybe Sunday.

Happy Birthday Thom!

presents One of the most prolific artists in the RareNoise roster, Jamie Saft has appeared on recordings by such groups as Metallic Taste of Blood,Slobber Pup, Plymouth, Red Hill, The Spanish Donkey andBerserk! as well as on his collaborations with Steve Swallow and Bobby Previte (The New Standard and Loneliness Road, which also featured Iggy Pop), Bill Brovold (Serenity Knolls), Roswell Rudd (Strength & Power) and his own New Zion w. Cyro album (Sunshine Seas, with Cyro Baptista). His sprawling discography, which includes prodigious sideman work with John Zorn, numbers over 160 albums. And yet, over all those sessions he has never recorded a solo piano album. “I've incorporated some solo piano pieces into other records of mine before, but this is something unique for me: This is my first proper full length solo piano album in 25 years of making records.” Solo A Genova is Saft’s highly emotive take on jazz standards and other uniquely American compositions. “I first conceived of this recital of music back in 2007,” he explains. “I was asked by my good friend Giuseppe Vigna to give a solo piano recital in Florence, Italy. At that moment in time, the United States was in a rough patch politically, so I wanted to present American music as an example of positive, forward thinking art — art that made a difference in the world, art that resisted hatred and negativity, art that promoted a positive path forward for mankind. I chose songs from artists that were dear to me: Bob Dylan,Stevie Wonder, Miles Davis/Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Joni Mitchell, Curtis Mayfield, Charles Ives. Who better to represent the transformative powers of music than these brilliant writers?" Recorded at the beautiful Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova, Italy in an acoustically marvellous space, Solo A Genova showcases Saft on a 9-foot Steinway Model D piano in the service of these beguiling tunes. “My primary influences for solo piano are actually the very same influences for playing the piano in any situation: Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk and Garth Hudson of The Band. Each has a uniquely personal approach to solo piano stylings. Each of these masters incorporates the entire history of modern music within their piano worlds. Their music IS American classical music.” PREVIEW SOLO A GENOVA Tracklisting and Personnel Jamie Saft - piano 1. The Makings Of You (Curtis Mayfield) 2. Human / Gates (Jimmy Jam / Terry Lewis / Jamie Saft) 3. Naima (John Coltrane) 4. Sharp Dressed Man (ZZ Top) 5. Overjoyed (Stevie Wonder) 6. Po’Boy (Bob Dylan) 7. The New Standard / Pinkus (Jamie Saft) 8. Blue Motel Room (Joni Mitchell) 9. The Housatonic At Stockbridge (Charles Ives) 10. Blue In Green (Miles Davis / Bill Evans) 11. Restless Farewell (Bob Dylan) Recorded in the Auditorium Eugenio Montale of the Teatro Carlo Felice, Genova, Italy, on March 3rd 2017 Live Sound and Recording Engineer : Alberto Parodi of Studio Mulinetti, Genova Mixed by Jamie Saft at Potterville International Sound, NY Mastered by Vin Cin at Electric Plant Studios, NY Produced by Jamie Saft Art and Design by Steven Erdman Layout Assistance Graham Schreiner Jamie played a Steinway D-274 supplied by Storti Strumenti Musicali, Genova Cat.No.: RNR088 (CD) RNR088LP (Double Gatefold Vinyl - heavyweight)

ECM Mathias Eick Ravensburg Mathias Eick: trumpet, voice Håkon Aase: violin Andreas Ulvo: piano Audun Erlien: electric bass Torstein Lofthus: drums Helge Andreas Norbakken: drums, percussion Release date: March 2, 2018 ECM 2584 B0027964-02 UPC: 6025 671 0242 7 On his last album, Midwest – described by Allaboutazz as “his most well-conceived outing” - trumpeter Mathias Eick imaginatively reflected on the exodus of hundreds of thousands of his compatriots who journeyed in the 19th century from the villages of Norway to the vast plains of Dakota. The geographical ambit of Ravensburg is smaller, but the scope of the compositions no less broad. This time Eick draws inspiration directly from his family circle, and the pieces, with modest titles like “Family”, “Friends”, “Parents”, Girlfriend” and “For My Grandmothers” add up to a kind of collective portrait, touching upon “all the emotional situations we experience on the stage where we mostly hang around. That is: home.” Embodied in the music, with its strongly melodic themes and improvisational exchanges, are ideas of relationships, dialogues, longings, games – and journeys. The Norwegian trumpeter Eick also has German ancestry, with one grandmother hailing from Ravensburg, the historic Swabian town. (Ravensburger jigsaws - “3,000 pieces, 5,000 pieces… a bit overwhelming” - were accordingly a mixed blessing of Eick family Christmases.) “The working title for the album was just ‘Family’ says Mathias Eick, “but once I realized how many albums there are with that title, it had to change. Anyway, the starting point was a wish to create energetic rhythmic compositions where I could use both Helge Andreas Norbakken and Torstein Lofthus as two strong personalities in the family. Helge is ‘a drummer’ on paper, but he’s really a one-of-a kind musician, with a very personal approach. His drum kit doesn’t look much like a regular kit, and the sounds he draws from it are completely his own. I didn’t offer any instructions at all to him or Torstein about how they should interact or play together, because I thought they’d work it out wonderfully between themselves, even though they’re coming together for the first time here. Torstein has immaculate time and a beat that can really drive a band. So, my idea was to give him – within this idea of family and friends – a playmate, so to speak. I wasn’t trying to make the drumming bigger or louder but rather more three-dimensional. With lots of interaction and shadowing. In fact, what’s going on in the area of rhythm is very much like what’s happening between Håkon and myself, where a similar idea of shadowing and conversation and call-and-response is taking place.” One of the pleasures of the Midwest album was hearing Mathias Eick’s radiant, vaulting trumpet supported by Gjermund Larsen’s violin; the trumpet/violin combination, a particularly evocative instrumental blend, is further developed on Ravensburg. Håkon Aase, the new violinist in Eick’s ensemble, is one of the up-and-coming players of the Norwegian scene, whom attentive ECM listeners will already know from his work with Thomas Strønen’s group Time Is A Blind Guide; latterly he has also been working with Mette Henriette. Aase has been playing with Eick in live contexts for three years already. “Gjermund did a great job on Midwest, but that was more ‘folk’ orientated. Well, I wanted some folk for this one, too, but also the jazz direction and a feeling for contemporary improvising. Håkon, who was only 22 when he started with us, has all of that in his playing – and he has really turned out to be the best possible guy for the band. He has huge ears, and I’m very happy with the level of interaction we’ve arrived at on this album.” Bassist Audun Erlien is, with pianist Andreas Ulvo, and drummer Torstein Lofthus, a long-serving member of the Eick road band. All three of them appear on Skala, Mathias’s recording of 2009/2010, and Erlien is also on Eick’s ECM leader debut The Door (and, still earlier, he can also be heard on Nils Pettter Molvær’s Solid Ether). “Audun has a very warm sound for an electric bass player and with his background in soul and R’n’B and his true understanding of the jazz and improvised universe he brings a lot of good things to the band.” Andreas Ulvo, meanwhile, is “deepening and refining his musical expression all the time, with strong capabilities in both rhythmic playing and improvisational soloing. Obviously live and studio are two different things: when we play this material in concert, Andreas’s extended introductions often stimulate new creative ideas.” Alongside the album’s central thematic concerns, another of Eick’s larger designs continues to unfold. On his ECM albums to date the trumpeter has been spelling out a kind of sonic calendar, with compositions named for the months of the year. With Ravensburg, “August” is added to a list that already includes “March” and “November” (on Midwest), “June” (on Skala) and “October” and “December” (on “The Door”). “August” is one of several tracks on Ravensburg where Eick’s singing voice has a role to play. It’s a new development. “I’d been singing at home every night with the kids. Then I started singing some more while I was making music. Since I’ve always thought of the trumpet as an extension of my voice, it seemed like it might be time to also use my voice directly…” * Mathias Eick has won numerous awards, including the International Jazz Festival Organization’s “International Jazz Talent” prize, the Statoil Scholarship and the DNB Prize. After finishing his formal musical education at NTNU Trondheim’s jazz studies, he soon gained acclaim working with artists including Trondheim Jazz Orchestra and Chick Corea, Jaga Jazzist, Iro Haarla, Manu Katché, and Jacob Young. As trumpeter, vibraphonist, double bass player, guitarist and piano player he has performed on over 100 albums. Ravensburg was recorded at Oslo’s Rainbow Studio in June 2017 and produced by Manfred Eicher, and is issued on the eve of European tour. More dates will follow in the summer, with the band reaching Ravensburg in August. ECM Keith Jarrett / Gary Peacock / Jack DeJohnette After The Fall Keith Jarrett: piano Gary Peacock: double bass Jack DeJohnette: drums Release date: March 2, 2018 ECM 2590/91 B0027966-02 2-CD UPC: 6025 671 6506 4 In the course of its 30-year lifespan the trio of Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette – the group colloquially known as “the Standards trio” – made many outstanding recordings. And After The Fall, overflowing with sparkling playing and dynamic interaction, must rank with the very best of them. “I was amazed to hear how well the music worked,” says Keith Jarrett. “For me, it’s not only a historical document, but a truly great concert.” This performance – in Newark, New Jersey in November 1998 – marked Jarrett’s return to the stage after a two-year hiatus. In fact, this concert was the first Jarrett had played since the 1996 Italian solo performances issued as A Multitude of Angels. In terms of the trio’s discography, it slots into the history before Whisper Not, recorded the following summer, and is thus the precursor of this group’s distinguished second period, where they seemed to find new freedoms both inside and beyond the world of jazz standards. “We don’t bother with concepts, or theory, or maintaining some image,” Gary Peacock told Jazz Times a few years ago. “That’s of no concern whatsoever. So what that leaves is: everything. It leaves the music. Once you get to that point where you don’t feel like you have to make a statement anymore, you enter a space of enormous freedom.” Together with improvising partners Peacock and DeJohnette, Jarrett glides and soars through classics of the Great American Songbook including “The Masquerade Is Over”, “Autumn Leaves”, “When I Fall In Love” and “I’ll See You Again”; they create their own music inside these familiar forms. Pete La Roca’s “One for Majid”, which would become a staple of the trio’s concerts in the 21st century, gets a sprightly treatment and sets the scene for a surprisingly boisterous, grooving version of “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”, a chestnut which once attracted the attention of Paul Bley and Bill Evans. This in turn is followed by a rare Jarrett exploration of a Coltrane theme, as “Moment’s Notice” lifts the trio into a new energetic space. There are also breath-taking accounts of hallowed bebop tunes including Charlie Parker’s “Scrapple From The Apple”, Bud Powell’s “Bouncin’ With Bud” and Sonny Rollins’s “Doxy”. “Scrapple” is especially exhilarating, with dizzying right-hand sprays of notes from Jarrett, magically detailed by DeJohnette’s speeding cymbals, leading to rapid-fire exchanges between piano and drums. In his liner note, Jarrett reflects on the choice of material for this ‘experimental’ comeback concert. “I told the guys in the trio that for me bebop might be the best idea, although it required great technique, I didn’t think I needed to play as hard as I sometimes did…” Ballads are also played with great tenderness. Paul Desmond’s “Late Lament” becomes a deep meditation, with Gary Peacock playing beautifully beneath Jarrett’s austere extension of the melody. “When I Fall In Love”, a favorite encore choice, is a as touching here as it has ever been. “These songs have a soul that can be found,” Keith Jarrett once said. Few will disagree that the trio locate it, repeatedly, on After The Fall.

Doesn't Spotify still require a user (free or paid) to allow them to search his hard drive?

Now through Feb. 4, everything in the Ticats shop is half price. Code: FLASH50 https://shop.ticats.ca

Very sorry to see this. I started buying from Wayside Music in the very late '70s.

"The Poetry of Jazz," A Spellbinding Collaboration Between Saxophonist/Composer Benjamin Boone & The Late Pulitzer Prize-Winning U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine, Set for March 16 Release By Origin Records Recording Sets New Precedent For Pairing Jazz with the Spoken Word With Performances By Tom Harrell, Branford Marsalis, Greg Osby, & Chris Potter Joining Boone's Core Ensemble As Levine Recites 14 of His Iconic Poems Set to Boone Compositions They Inspired January 30, 2018 Musicians and poets have been inspiring each other for millennia, with collaborations in San Francisco and New York between beat poets and beboppers during the 1950s a particularly memorable recent chapter. On the forthcoming The Poetry of Jazz, which Origin Records will release on March 16, saxophonist-composer Benjamin Boone and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Philip Levinemake an invaluable contribution to the jazz-and-poetry canon and set a standard for the genre that will be hard to surpass in the future. Fellow professors at California State University, Fresno, until Levine's death in 2015, Boone and Levine performed their first concert together in March 2012; that fall they decided to lay down some tracks. The Poetry of Jazz features 14 iconic poems by Levine set to compositions by Boone based on the music he heard in their words and their author's delivery. For the recording sessions, Levine was in the studio with the musicians. "He told me, 'Why the hell would I want to be in a room by myself? I do that enough already! Have the musicians there and then that will be fun,'" Boone recalls. "There were always musicians playing live with him. Phil did most tracks in a max of two takes. 'Gin' was the absolute first take." A highly regarded composer who often sets text to music, Boone employs a vast and vivid sonic palette in writing and arranging settings for Levine's words. He recruited an impressive cast of California players, relying particularly on drummer Brian Hamada, bassist Spee Kosloff, and pianist David Aus, who also contributed compositionally. In addition, on the intimate "The Unknowable (Homage to Sonny Rollins)," Boone evokes the inner struggle and beatific quest embodied by the saxophone colossus's famous woodshedding walks on the Williamsburg Bridge, a search that materializes in the thick, sinewy sound of Chris Potter's horn. Tom Harrell delivers a strikingly beautiful statement on "I Remember Clifford (Homage to Clifford Brown)," while the mercurial altoist Greg Osby darts and weaves around "Call It Music (Homage to Charlie Parker)," about Bird's infamous Dial recording session of "Lover Man." On Boone's poignant ballad "Soloing (Homage to John Coltrane)," Branford Marsalis's sinuous tenor lines bring to life Levine's comparison between his aging mother's isolated existence and a Coltrane solo. Philip Levine & Benjamin Boone (photo: Joe Osejo) "I wanted to record Phil's poems about Rollins, Brown, Parker, and Coltrane, as well as his poems that created melodies when he read them," Boone says. "We talked a lot about the relationship of music and the voice, and I told him, I don't want to react word by word. The music and the poetry had to be equal and symbiotic." A lifelong jazz fan who was born (1928) and raised in Detroit when it was a proving ground for a brilliant generation of bebop-inspired improvisers, Philip Levine often wrote about jazz and the musicians he loved in his verse. But Boone, an award-winning composer, player and educator, wanted to dig deeper. He drew inspiration not only from the subjects of Levine's poems but also from the musicality of his language and his wry, emotionally restrained recitation. Over the course of his career Levine collaborated with musicians in a variety of settings, but felt the results weren't always salutary, which made the connection with Boone all the more satisfying. He observed that "[Boone's] ability to both hear and 'get' my writing was astonishing... He can tell just where the music needs to carry the moment or the language has to climb over the instruments. His compositions seem to grow directly out of the thrust of the language." Born in 1963 in Statesville, NC, Benjamin Boone grew up in an intellectually stimulating family and could have devoted himself to any number of pursuits. He concentrated on the saxophone and started improvising from an early age, but was also interested in composition. "I learned a great deal about science, literature, visual art, writing, history, politics, and music from my four older brothers," he says. "So I've always gravitated towards interdisciplinary projects like this one, where I can combine playing, composition, literature, and oration to create an artistic statement that addresses history and topics relevant today." Boone traces his fascination with the music of spoken language to a hearing issue "that makes it hard for me to understand words," he says. "When I hear people speak I hear it as music, a melodic line. This fascination with spoken language allowed me to use Phil's voice as an instrument, which makes this project unique." Boone is heralded as a performer and composer in both jazz and new music circles. His compositions have been heard in 29 countries and on more than 25 albums and have been the subject of multiple national broadcasts on NPR. He conducted musical research in the former Soviet Republic of Moldova as a Fulbright Senior Specialist Fellow and is currently spending a year in Ghana performing and composing with African musicians as a Fulbright Scholar. With The Poetry of Jazz Boone has opened up a new literary and musical frontier, and there's more in store. The album features the first half of the 29 poems he recorded with Levine, who addressed his readers in his classic verse, writing "if you're old enough to read this you know what work is." Photo of Benjamin Boone by Tomas Ovalle Web Site: benjaminboone.net Follow: Like:

FOUR NEW ECM TITLES TO RELEASE FEBRUARY 16TH Norma Winstone Descansado Songs for Films “(Descansado) is quite possible Winstone’s best.” – Stuart Nicholson, Jazzwise A creative journey into the world of cinema with new arrangements of music by Nino Rota, Michel Legrand, William Walton, Bernard Herrmann, and Ennio Morricone for the movies of Scorsese, Godard, Wenders, Jewison, Zeffirelli, Olivier and more. LISTEN / BUY HERE Andy Sheppard Quartet Romaria The drones and washes of guitar and electronics help to establish a climate in which improvisation can take place. There’s a highly atmospheric, ambient drift to the music which all the musicians clearly find liberating, free to move in and out of conventional rhythm section roles and to make impassioned statements of their own. LISTEN / BUY HERE Nicolas Masson Travelers After two ECM albums with the cooperative trio Third Reel, Swiss reedman Nicolas Masson presents a quartet for which he is the sole composer. The group has existed for a decade with unchanged personnel, touring as Nicolas Masson’s Parallels, and the leader’s writing for it always encourages creative responses from the players. LISTEN / BUY HERE Shinya Fukumori Trio For 2 Akis An ECM debut for a unique Japanese-French-German trio, with a lyrical sound of its own. Drummer-leader Shinya Fukumori, also the principal composer for the band, is an imaginative melodist at several levels, and the attention to timbre and detail and space which distinguishes his drumming is also reflected in the color-fields of his free-floating ballads. LISTEN / BUY HERE Copyright © 2018 ECM Records. 1755 Broadway, Floor 3. New York, NY 10019. All rights reserved.

A lot of news while the board was down! Let's get started. The Redblacks have signed this year's Hec Crighton winner Ed Ilnicki. http://3downnation.com/2018/01/16/redblacks-sign-2017-hec-crighton-tropy-winner/#comments ***** The Als announced their coaching staff. http://3downnation.com/2018/01/16/mike-sherman-names-six-assistant-coaches-to-alouettes-staff/#comments ***** The Argos have signed Tracy Ham's son Caleb. http://3downnation.com/2018/01/16/argos-sign-son-of-canadian-football-hall-of-famer-tracy-ham/#comments ***** Adam Bighill will return to New Orleans. http://3downnation.com/2018/01/16/former-cfl-all-star-lb-adam-bighill-signs-future-contract-with-saints/#comments ***** Darian Durant wasn't out of work long. He signed with the Bombers. http://3downnation.com/2018/01/17/darian-durant-in-no-hurry-to-make-a-decision-on-next-destination/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/18/3downnation-podcast-durants-next-play-will-freeman-good-johnny-bad/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/20/darian-durant-agrees-to-terms-with-bombers/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/20/kevin-glenn-chirps-bombers-sign-darian-durant/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/21/durant-ready-new-role-blue-bombers/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/21/durant-great-addition-bombers-still-work/#comments ***** BC has signed Uzooma Okeke to scout the southeast US. http://3downnation.com/2018/01/18/lions-hire-former-alouettes-scout-uzooma-okeke/#comments ***** The Als released Sam Giguere. http://3downnation.com/2018/01/19/alouettes-released-canadian-receiver-sam-giguere-two-weeks-ago/#comments ***** The Riders hired Travis Moore to be their new receivers coach. http://3downnation.com/2018/01/19/riders-hire-travis-moore-receivers-coach/#comments ***** The Als were said to be the only team not to have scouts at the East-West Shrine Game and the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, both they denied the report. http://3downnation.com/2018/01/19/no-alouettes-scouts-two-u-s-star-games-report/#comments ***** The Als released Keith Shologan. http://3downnation.com/2018/01/19/alouettes-quietly-released-canadian-defensive-lineman-keith-shologan/#comments ***** Jerry Keeling has died. RIP. I had his bubble gum card in 1964. http://3downnation.com/2018/01/20/former-stampeder-quarterback-jerry-keeling-dead-78/#comments ***** Duron Carter turned down two NFL offers (from Arizona and Baltimore), and re-signed with the Riders. http://www.3downnation.com/2017/12/11/duron-carter-goes-through-first-nfl-workout-in-off-season/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/12/20/riders-receiver-duron-carter-chirps-former-team-calls-alouettes-old/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/12/27/riders-receiver-duron-carter-delivers-cryptic-tweet-christmas-day/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/10/riders-duron-carter-turned-down-contract-offers-from-two-nfl-teams/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/11/riders-chris-jones-going-to-find-out-duron-carters-plans-for-2018/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/22/duron-carter-signs-extension-riders/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/22/despite-bumps-road-carter-riders-make-work/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/22/duron-carter-chooses-riders-over-nfl-opportunities/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/23/davis-nobody-commandeers-the-spotlight-like-duron-carter/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/23/riders-duron-carter-favours-canadian-culture/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/26/contract-details-duron-carter-gets-pay-raise-riders/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/26/bombers-db-tj-heath-duron-carters-raise-ive-locked-many-times/#comments

I have asked my contact if this will be recorded for release, and she replied that she had not yet heard.

ECM Keith Jarrett/Gary Peacock/Jack DeJohnette - After The Fall release date : March 2, 2018 Keith Jarrett: piano; Gary Peacock: double bass; Jack DeJohnette: drums The group colloquially known as "the Standards trio" has made many outstanding recordings, and After The Fall must rank with the very best of them. "I was amazed to hear how well the music worked," writes Keith Jarrett in his liner note. "For me, it's not only a historical document, but a truly great concert." This performance - in Newark, New Jersey in November 1998 - marked Jarrett's return to the stage after a two-year hiatus. Joined by improvising partners Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette, he glides and soars through classics of the Great American Songbook including "The Masquerade Is Over", "Autumn Leaves", "When I Fall In Love" and "I'll See You Again". There are also breath-taking accounts of hallowed bebop tunes including Charlie Parker's "Scrapple From The Apple", Bud Powell's "Bouncin' With Bud", Sonny Rollins's "Doxy", plus a rare, energetic exploration of Coltrane's "Moment's Notice". ECM Shinya Fukumori Trio - For 2 Akis release date: February 16, 2018 Matthieu Bordenave: tenor saxophone; Walter Lang: piano; Shinya Fukumori: drums An ECM debut for a unique Japanese-French-German trio, with a lyrical sound of its own. Drummer-leader Shinya Fukumori, also the principal composer for the band, is an imaginative melodist at several levels, and the attention to timbre and detail and space which distinguishes his drumming is also reflected in the color-fields of his free-floating ballads. The spaciousness of the music leaves room for expression to tenorist Matthieu Bordenave and pianist Walter Lang. Bordenave has a deceptively fragile tenor tone, of considerable emotional impact, and Lang, one of Lee Konitz's chosen duo partners in recent years, is a subtle player, patiently shoring up the whole context. Together, the members of this Munich-based band have created something new and fresh. For 2 Akis was recorded at Studios La Buissonne in the South of France in March 2017, and produced by Manfred Eicher. ECM Andy Sheppard Quartet - Romaria release date: February 16, 2018 Andy Sheppard: tenor and soprano saxophones; Eivind Aarset: guitar Michel Benita: double bass; Sebastian Rochford: drums Andy Sheppard's quartet extends the musical explorations begun on the 2015 release Surrounded By Sea, an album praised by Télérama for its "poignant serenity." In this new program of compositions by Sheppard (plus the title track by Brazilian singer-songwriter Renato Teixeira), the drones and washes of Eivind Aarset's guitar and electronics - aided by the generous acoustics of Lugano's Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI - help to establish a climate in which improvisation can take place. There's a highly atmospheric, ambient drift to the music which Sheppard clearly finds liberating, as do Michel Benita and Seb Rochford, free to move in and out of conventional rhythm section roles and to make impassioned statements of their own. Romaria was recorded in April 2017 and produced by Manfred Eicher. ECM Nicolas Masson Quartet- Travelers release date: February 16, 2018 Nicolas Masson: tenor and soprano saxophones, clarinet; Colin Vallon: piano; Patrice Moret: double bass; Lionel Friedli: drums After two ECM albums with the cooperative trio Third Reel, Swiss reedman Nicolas Masson presents a quartet for which he is the sole composer. The group has existed for a decade with unchanged personnel, touring as Nicolas Masson's Parallels, and the leader's writing for it always encourages creative responses from the players. Amid the changing musical landscapes in which these travelers move, you will encounter some of Colin Vallon's prettiest ballad playing, richly melodic bass from Patrice Moret, and subtle drum commentary from Lionel Friedli. Plus, of course, plenty of Masson's pure-toned saxophone and elegant clarinet. Travelers was recorded at Auditorio Stelio Molo in Lugano in April 2017, and produced by Manfred Eicher.

Monday, March 26, 7:30PM R O U L E T T E 509 Atlantic Ave/3rd Avenue, Brooklyn Joey Baron (drums), Randy Brecker (trumpet), Nels Cline (guitar), Marc Copland (piano), Jack DeJohnette (drums), Eliane Elias (piano), Peter Erskine (drums), Mark Feldman (violin), Bill Frisell (guitar), Drew Gress (double bass), Marc Johnson (double bass), Dave Liebman (saxophones), Joe Lovano (saxophones), Thomas Morgan (double bass), Adam Nussbaum (drums), John Scofield (guitar), Ralph Towner (guitar), and special guests One of the most influential guitarists to earn initial renown in the mid-1970s, John Abercrombie continued to make exceptional music as he grew and explored, ever-honing his approach across the decades. As NPR declared, he was “an intrepid and deeply lyrical guitarist who made a formative contribution to jazz-rock before refining a judicious, poetic iteration of post-bop.” Like his breakthrough LP as a leader – the aptly titled Timeless of 1975 – John’s final album, Up and Coming, was released by ECM Records, in January 2017. In between came dozens of albums primarily for ECM as a leader, co-leader and key sideman, an evergreen body of work that helped define the label and will continue to confirm his stature as an innovative, individual artist who inspired his great colleagues as well as multiple generations of guitarists. Nels Cline, one of those guitarists shaped by recordings, performances and conversations from across John’s long career, said in an appreciation published in Premier Guitar: “It’s so hard to imagine our collective musical life without him.” Cline will join a dream lineup of John’s dear friends and close collaborators to pay tribute to the beloved guitarist’s life and music in an evening-length event underscoring his legacy and influences. Along with his career as a performer, composer and recording artist, John was also a teacher, lecturer and mentor at Purchase College of the State University of New York. Tickets $40 Advance | $45 Doors $60 Advance VIP Seating includes ECM CD $20 Student (must present valid student ID at the door) All proceeds from the concert will go to the John Abercrombie Jazz Scholarship Fund. Tax deductible donations to benefit the John Abercrombie Jazz Scholarship Fund Charitable Trust, a 501c3 non-profit organization providing tuition assistance for jazz students in need, will be accepted at the venue. Copyright © 2018 ECM Records. 1755 Broadway, Floor 3. New York, NY 10019. All rights reserved.

ECM Andy Sheppard Quartet Romaria Andy Sheppard: tenor and soprano saxophones Eivind Aarset: guitar Michel Benita: double bass Sebastian Rochford: drums Release: February 16, 2017 ECM 2577 B0027932-02 UPC CD: 6025 578 6980 4 UPC LP 180g: 6025 673 0185 1 Romaria is the latest chapter in a musical story that began with saxophonist Andy Sheppard’s free-flowing Trio Libero recording with bassist Michel Benita and drummer Sebastian Rochford back in 2011. The creative understanding between the three highly-individual protagonists was unmissable. For the subsequent album Surrounded by Sea, recorded in 2014, Eivind Aarset was added on guitar and electronics, bringing the group to quartet size and broadening its work method. As Sheppard explained to UK website Jazz Views, “I wanted to take what I was doing with Trio Libero and add the harmonies that I can hear in my head when playing with just bass and drums. Eivind is an amazing ‘orchestral’ voice with exquisite taste – the perfect choice for this role.” In an interview with Jazzwise magazine, Sheppard went further: “The sound-world that I have with this quartet is my dream band.” US magazine Jazz Times called the quartet’s music “impressionistic yet suffused with piercing emotional clarity,” a description also applicable for Romaria. In this new program of compositions by Andy Sheppard (plus the title track by Brazilian singer-songwriter Renato Teixeira) the drones and washes of Eivind Aarset’s guitar and electronics once again help to establish a climate in which improvisation can take place. There’s a highly atmospheric, ambient drift to the music which Sheppard clearly finds liberating, as do Michel Benita and Seb Rochford, free to move in and out of conventional rhythm section roles and to make impassioned statements of their own. And there is also drive: rubato and propulsive elements can co-exist and overlap in Sheppard’s musical universe, see for instance “Thirteen,” “They Came From The North” and “All Becomes Again”, all distinguished by dynamic interaction. “I wanted to continue the atmosphere of Surrounded by Sea,” says Andy Sheppard, “and write music which would bring out the wonderful musicality of Eivind, Seb and Michel and also make the core a little more robust, with more of an emphasis on groove and energy than the last album.” The opening and closing tracks were originally two versions of a slowly-unfolding ballad entitled “Forever and a Day”, both featuring gentle saxophone by the leader and melodic bass from Michel Benita against minimalistic drums and Aarset’s halo of sounds: “Manfred’s inspired idea of using both takes to open and close the session made me retitle the music accordingly.” “With Every Flower That Falls” belongs to a suite of music that Sheppard was commissioned to write as a “live score” to accompany a screening of Fritz Lang’s prophetic science-fiction classicMetropolis at the Bristol International Jazz Festival (where it was performed with a ten piece ensemble with Sheppard, Aarset and Michele Rabbia among the soloists). Title track “Romaria” was recommended to Andy Sheppard by his wife Sara: “She suggested I explore it, and played me the wonderful version by Ellis Regina, which of course I fell in love with immediately. For me, it also ties in with our recent relocation to Portugal, land of sunshine and saudades, two things that I hope the listener will find on this recording…” * Andy Sheppard’s first leader date for ECM was the 2008 recording Movements In Colour(where Eivind Aarset was one of the featured guitarists). In addition to the aforementioned Trio Libero album Sheppard can also be heard with Carla Bley and Steve Swallow on Trios(recorded 2012) and Andando el Tiempo (2015) and on ten of Carla Bley’s albums on the ECM distributed WATT label, beginning with Fleur Carnivore in 1988. Sheppard has written music for ensembles of every size including his Saxophone Massive project with up to 200 players, and been featured as soloist with great jazz composers and arrangers including George Russell and Gil Evans. Andy Sheppard and Michel Benita have been crossing paths since the 1980s. In 2008 Sheppard, Benita and Sebastian Rochford came together in a project at the Coutances Jazz Festival in northern France. It was here that Sheppard first glimpsed the potential of this particular musical combination. Seb Rochford, whose interest in jazz was first sparked by witnessing an Andy Sheppard concert in Aberdeen, has meanwhile made his own distinctive contributions to the genre with his bands including Polar Bear. Rochford’s resumé has embraced work with everyone from Brian Eno to Herbie Hancock, from Patti Smith to Matana Roberts. Each quartet member is also a bandleader in his own right, and Michel Benita, French bassist born in Algiers, recorded the album River Silver with his Ethics band (featuring Eivind Aarset, Matthieu Michel, and koto player Mieko Miyazaki) for ECM in 2015. Benita has played with numerous jazz musicians including Dewey Redman, Archie Shepp, Lee Konitz, Kenny Wheeler, Joe Lovano, Steve Kuhn, Michel Portal and many more. Eivind Aarset’s ECM album Dream Logic was released in 2012. It was followed by Atmosphèreswith an improvising quartet with Tigran Hamasyan, Arve Henriksen and Jan Bang. Other ECM appearances include Nils Petter Molvӕr’s influential Khmer and Solid Ether, Small Labyrinthswith Marilyn Mazur’s Future Song, Arild Andersen’s Electra, John Hassell’s Last Night The Moon Came…, Ketil Bjørnstad’s La Notte, and Food’s Mercurial Balm. Romaria was recorded at Lugano’s Auditorio Stelio Molo in April 2017 and produced by Manfred Eicher. ECM Shinya Fukumori Trio For 2 Akis Matthieu Bordenave: tenor saxophone Walter Lang: piano Shinya Fukumori: drums Release date: February 16, 2018 ECM 2574 B0027936-02 UPC: 6025 578 8817 1 For 2 Akis is the ECM debut for a Japanese-French-German trio with a lyrical sound of its own. Drummer-leader Shinya Fukumori, also the principal composer for the band, is an imaginative melodist at several levels, and the attention to timbre and detail and space which distinguishes his drumming is also reflected in the color-fields of his free-floating ballads, and his adaptations and arrangements of Japanese songs. The spaciousness of the music leaves room for expression to tenorist Matthieu Bordenave and pianist Walter Lang. Bordenave has a deceptively fragile tenor tone, of considerable emotional impact, and Lang is a very subtle player, patiently shoring up the whole context. Together the three players have created something special and new. Shinya Fukumori, born in Osaka in 1984, played violin, piano and guitar before taking up drums at 15. Two years later he moved to the US, studying at Brookhaven College and the University of Texas at Arlington, completing his formal musical education at Boston’s Berklee College. After playing a great deal of in-the-tradition jazz and powering a number of big bands, he says that he found himself yearning for “something more floating. I wanted more dialogues.” Exposure to Keith Jarrett’s My Song album led to an interest in ECM’s recordings and in diverse European approaches to improvisational music-making. He cites Ketil Bjørnstad’s The Sea and Eberhard Weber’s Silent Feet as particular inspirations. Determining that he would one day record for ECM and work with Manfred Eicher, he decided to move to Munich “without knowing anyone at all in Europe” at that time. To prepare for the move he went back to Osaka for a while, where he was encouraged by the “two Akis” of the title track, both of them at Interplay 8, a jazz club with a long history, which once provided support for the young Yosuke Yamashita when few others were listening. Shinya Fukumori: “They believed in me and my music, and took care of me until I left for Europe. ‘For 2 Akis’ was one of the first rubato-type compositions I wrote, and among the first pieces that the trio played together. We feel it really represents the group.” It was also in Osaka that Shinya first heard Walter Lang, when the Swabian pianist was there with his own trio. “Walter is somewhat known in Japan, and so I went to his concert, and fell in love with the simple but strong and unique melodies in his playing.” At a jam session in Munich, Shinya got to play with French saxophonist Matthieu Bordenave: “I loved his tone, and we’ve developed a really close connection in the music. His approach and playing are like floating on a river. Both Walter and Matthieu really appreciate Japanese culture, and with their support I feel very confident in the music.” Each of the musicians contributes fine-spun pieces to the trio repertoire, and on For 2 AkisShinya has also brought in Japanese pieces of the Shōwa era (1926-89) which have a special resonance for him: “One of the most important music forms of this period is Shōwa Kayō, the folk/pop music of the Shōwa era. After World War II, when the country was very poor, people would sing folk songs - sometimes to forget about their situation, or to cry over it. Music was a way to escape from the reality, but at the same time to be aware of it. Although the sound is completely different, the way the music has influenced the people is equivalent, in my mind, to American blues. The folk songs of the period are usually very sad and nostalgic, and the music still touches our hearts. My parents and grandparents sang these songs. So I basically grew up listening to Shōwa Kayō. “I always wanted to create music using Shōwa elements, so I started arranging Shōwa folk songs for the trio in the style of European improvisational music with my own voice. It’s worked out well, and leaves so much space in the music…” The album begins and ends with Kenji Miyazawa’s “Hoshi Meguri No Uta” (“The Star-Circling Song”). Poet, author, farmer, and cellist Miyazawa (1896-1933), perhaps best-known for his surreal children’s books, wrote few songs. This one says Shinya “has an atmosphere of mystical space. I feel close to his works and the world he creates in his writings and music.” One of the much-loved songs of the Shōwa period is “Ai San San” written by Kei Ogura (born 1944) and made famous by legendary diva Hibari Misora (1937-89). Matthieu Bordenave wrings a lot of feeling from its melody in the trio’s interpretation. For Western jazz listeners the most familiar song here may be “Kojo No Tsuki” by Rentaro Taki: Thelonious Monk performed this piece (as “Japanese Folk Song”) on his Straight, No Chaseralbum. Shinya: “Every Japanese child learns this song at school. The melody of the song is very Japanese, so it stands out and still sounds very authentic even though I have re-harmonized it and arranged it.” Shinya Fukumori incorporates the piece into his “Light Suite” here, and it segues into his own compositions. The other “cover version” here, “Mangetsu No Yube” (“Full Moon Night”), written by Tagashi Nakagawa and Hiroshi Yamaguchi after the Great Hanshin earthquake of 1995, is a song of hope for dark times. “It’s important for me to play the song to remember,” says Shinya. “Plus, I just want to play the music because it’s a beautiful song.” The Shinya Fukumori Trio is a Munich-based band - actually the first Munich-based jazz group on ECM since the Mal Waldron Trio of the early 1970s – and all three of its members are leaders in their own right, active on the local scene as well as internationally. Walter Lang has extensive experience of playing duos with Lee Konitz (which led last autumn to Konitz guesting with Matthieu Bordenave’s quartet, with Shinya on drums). Bordenave, furthermore, leads the group Grand Angle with Peter Omara, Henning Sieverts and Shinya Fukumori, and plays duos with guitarist Geoff Goodman. For 2 Akis was recorded at Studios La Buissonne in the South of France in March 2017, and produced by Manfred Eicher. The trio is playing in both Europe and Japan in the coming months. ECM Nicolas Masson Travelers Nicolas Masson: tenor and soprano saxophones, clarinet Colin Vallon: piano Patrice Moret: double bass Lionel Friedli: drums Release date: February 16, 2018 ECM 2578 B0027934-02 UPC: 6025 670 5808 3 After two well-received ECM albums in the cooperative trio Third Reel, leading Swiss reedman Nicolas Masson now presents his own quartet, with Colin Vallon, Patrice Moret and Lionel Friedli. The group has existed for twelve years already, touring as Nicolas Masson’s Parallels, with unchanged personnel and metamorphosing musical influences and priorities. It’s a group of friends, firstly, Masson emphasises. All compositions are by the leader but, as he says, “what’s special about the band, I believe, is the alchemy between the four of us, what happens when we play together.” Masson’s thoughtful writing for the group does not seek to draw attention to itself, but it continues to encourage fresh responses from the players: “For the quartet I like to have the possibility of writing the simplest melody as a unique starting point for improvisations or more complex rhythmic, harmonic and contrapuntal structures to play on.” Characteristically, at least two of the quartet members adhere to the compositional structure at any given time while the others are free to roam around it or to go exploring. Pianist Colin Vallon and bassist Patrice Moret, play differently here. ECM listeners will know these musicians from Vallon’s own trio and from Elina Duni’s group. Masson’s concept prompts more soloistic activity, and there is a special pleasure in the interplay between piano and saxophone here, as on the title track. In the mutating landscapes which these travellers negotiate you will also find some of Vallon’s prettiest ballad playing (see “Almost Forty”, for instance), richly melodic bass from Moret, and always alert and detailed drumming from Lionel Friedli, whose tom-toms, gongs and metals get a powerful feature on “The Deep.” Constant factors through the album – and throughout the history of the band – are Masson’s lean-toned saxophone and elegant clarinet. Nonetheless, twelve years is a long time in the life of an improvising group and much has changed along the way. When Nicolas Masson started the band he was inspired, he says, by Tim Berne’s writing, and juxtaposing that influence with ideas from rock, while also looking to Miles Davis’s sixties quintet as an optimum model for a balance of improvisation and composition. In the early days, when the group’s music was more groove and ostinato-driven, Vallon played just Fender Rhodes in the line-up, and textures were thicker and heavier (the 2009 album Thirty Six Ghosts documents the period). Masson subsequently fine-tuned his writing in concurrent projects, including a quartet with Ben Monder, Patrice Moret and Ted Poor, and the aforementioned Third Reel: “Recording the two ECM albums with Third Reel inspired me to think a lot about musical expression and aesthetics. I was trying to find a way to simplify or clarify the written material to communicate on a deeper level.” Contemporary composition had long been an interest; now, Masson also listened to earlier music of the classical tradition, including baroque music, for lyrical inspiration and formal concepts. “I wanted a more singing, melodic approach and operas and arias by Handel, Telemann and Purcell helped me to renew my approach to saxophone playing and offered new inspirations in writing, too. I was also hearing something more organic and natural.” Hence the drift to acoustic instruments. Masson’s artistic growth has been stimulated by some important encounters. At the age of 20 he met Cecil Taylor, J.R. Mitchell and Fred Hopkins in New York, which led to studies with Frank Lowe and Makanda Ken McIntyre. At the end of the 1990s, he returned to the US to study with Chris Potter and Rich Perry. He has played with Ben Monder, Kenny Wheeler, Josh Roseman, Otomo Yoshihide, Clarence Penn, Kris Davis, Thomas Morgan, Scott DuBois, Gerald Cleaver, Tom Arthurs, Samuel Blaser, Manuel Mengis, Susanne Abbuehl, and many others. Of his tunes on Travelers, Masson says, “I wrote each song in relation to someone I’ve known. These pieces are not musical portraits of these people, but a reaction to their specific energy…” Music is paralleled in significance in Masson’s life by photography and the two arts have had a kind of symbiotic relationship for him. Working at the opera house in Geneva as a stage photographer was once a means to pay for studies at the city’s Conservatoire Populaire de Musique (where master-class teachers included Lee Konitz, Dave Douglas and Misha Mengelberg). Today he feels that his photography and music “feed off each other. Taking pictures helps me to understand what I react to, what inspires me, what energies I’m drawn to…The pieces that I write for the quartet are related to the experiences, impressions and moods I try to channel using music and photography.” A number of ECM covers and booklets have featured Masson’s images in recent years, in styles from landscapes and abstract pictures to musician portraits. Examples include Heinz Holliger’s Aschenmusik, the Colin Vallon Trio’s Le Vent and Danse, Elina Duni’s Dallëndyshe, Third Reel’s Many More Days, and now Travelers. Travelers was recorded at Auditorio Stelio Molo in Lugano in April 2017, and produced by Manfred Eicher. ECM Norma Winstone Descansado Songs for Films Norma Winstone: voice Klaus Gesing: bass clarinet, soprano saxophone Glauco Venier: piano Helge Andreas Norbakken: percussion Mario Brunello: violoncello, violoncello piccolo Release date: February 16, 2018 ECM 2567 B0027937-02 UPC: 6025 578 6989 7 For its fourth ECM album, a creative journey into the world of film music, Norma Winstone’s trio with Klaus Gesing and Glauco Venier is augmented by guests Helge Andreas Norbakken and Mario Brunello. Together they explore music written by Nino Rota, Michel Legrand, William Walton, Bernard Herrmann, Ennio Morricone, Armando Trovajoli, Rodrigo Leão, Luis Bacalov and Dario Marianelli for the movies of Scorsese, Godard, Wenders, Jewison, Zeffirelli, Olivier and more. Descansado, named after Trovajoli’s regretful-yet-buoyant tune for Vittorio De Sica’s 1963 filmYesterday, Today and Tomorrow, is an album that works on several levels. Thoroughly involving as a set of graceful songs, it also invites the listener to reflect on the creative relationships between directors and composers, and the many ways in which music so often subtly contributes to the emotional tone of a film. Some of the pieces here count as classics of the film song genre, among them Nina Rota’s “What Is A Youth” and Michel Legrand’s “His Eyes, Her Eyes”, transformed in the performances by Winstone and company. For six of the songs Norma has written new words. As well as being one of the great contemporary jazz singers, Winstone has long been a sensitive lyricist, and her song texts often capture a moment or a mood in a way that might well be described as filmic. And so it is here, with her stories of love and loss conveyed through a look, a gesture or a touch. In their fresh arrangements, Venier and Gesing expand upon both the atmosphere of the film in question and the feeling embodied in Norma’s lyrics. William Walton’s “Touch Her Soft Lips And Part”, originally written for Laurence Olivier’s version of Shakespeare’s Henry V, is a piece that John Taylor (with Kenny Wheeler one of the album’s dedicatees) used to play (Taylor’s interpretation of the tune can be heard on As It Is by the Peter Erskine Trio). Norma’s words for it encompass more than a film’s scene: “All of his magic/Still lives in her mind/All the sounds and images/Slowly rewind.” Mario Brunello’s cello underscores the song’s sentiment. Sometimes, following her own instincts, Winstone finds new associations for a well-known melody, and Bernard Herrmann’s theme for Scorsese’s Taxi Driver becomes melancholy rather than ominous as Norma sketches another picture of mean streets: “The siren’s lullaby/Goes on into the night/Relentless and mournful, it never ends.” Italian cellist Mario Brunello, whose own recordings have encompassed music from Bach to Ligeti, works a wide scope of music on this album, too, even conjuring a sense of the English countryside on the folk-flavored theme of “Meryton Townhall” from Joe Wright’s film based on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Here, and on themes for Wim Wenders’s Lisbon Story and Jean-Luc Godard’s Vivre sa vie(added spontaneously to the program in the course of the recording session) Norma uses her voice wordlessly, as a pure instrument, as she did back in the 1970s when she made her ECM debut in the Azimuth trio with Kenny Wheeler and John Taylor. In fact, from the beginning of her life in jazz, Norma Winstone has wanted to be part of the ensemble, rather than a frontwoman – interweaving improvised lines with her partners and participating in the blossoming harmony. When singing texts, she draws her fellow musicians ever deeper into the storylines sketched by the lyrics, until the plot is illuminated from multiple perspectives. On Descansado this is true for the guest musicians as well as for Gesing and Venier, who have worked with Norma for more than fifteen years: their first trio album was Chamber Music, recorded for Universal in 2002, followed by the Grammy nominated Distances (2007), Stories Yet To Tell (2009) and Dance Without Answer (2012). Norma’s other ECM albums include Somewhere Called Home (recorded in 1986 with John Taylor and Tony Coe), and five albums with Azimuth, recorded between 1979 and 1994. She can also be heard on Kenny Wheeler’s Music for Large and Small Ensembles (1990) and Eberhard Weber’s Fluid Rustle(1979). Pianist Glauco Venier recorded his solo album Miniatures for ECM in 2013. Saxophonist and clarinettist Klaus Gesing has played with Anouar Brahem’s ensembles since 2008, and appears on the albums The Astounding Eyes of Rita (2008) and Souvenance (2014). And percussionist Helge Andreas Norbakken has contributed to ECM recordings with Jon Balke’s Magnetic North, Batagraf and Siwan ensembles, as well as projects with Jon Hassell, Miki N’Doye and Mathias Eick (including the forthcoming albumRavensburg). Descansado – Songs for Films was recorded at ArteSuono Studio in Udine, Italy, in March 2017 and produced by Manfred Eicher. Norma Winstone, Glauco Venier, Klaus Gesing and Helge Andreas Norbakken play the music ofDescansado at a special release concert in the Stadttheater in Landsberg am Lech, Germany, on February 18.

LOL! I think Garbareck would cause fewer problems in the locker room than Manziel!

It's great to see the board and you guys back up! I have some news to post in the New Releases and CFL threads.

Happy Birthday Clunky!

This is a vocalist's album, but he gives the band members plenty of time in the forefront. This is not a mainstream jazz album. It reminds me of the music I heard in the early days of underground FM radio. I think it is fair to say that all of the songs are mellow.

Petty's family thinks he died from a drug overdose. http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2018/01/19/rock-legend-tom-petty-may-have-died-because-accidental-drug-overdose-family-members-say.html

ECM Norma Winstone - Descansado - Songs for Films release date: February 16, 2018 Norma Winstone: voice; Klaus Gesing: bass clarinet, soprano saxophone; Glauco Venier: piano; Helge Andreas Norbakken: percussion: Mario Brunnello: violoncello, violoncello piccolo A creative journey into the world of cinema with new arrangements - by Klaus Gesing and Glauco Venier - of music by Nino Rota, Michel Legrand, William Walton, Bernard Herrmann, and Ennio Morricone for the movies of Scorsese, Godard, Wenders, Jewison, Zeffirelli, Olivier and more. Several of the arrangements incorporate new words by Norma Winstone who, in addition to being one of the great jazz singers, has long been a sensitive lyricist. For this project, her acclaimed trio with Gesing and Venier is augmented by two special guests: Norwegian improvising percussionist Helge Andreas Norbakken and Italian classical cellist Mario Brunello. Norbakken is well-known to ECM listeners for his recordings with Jon Balke, Mathias Eick and Jon Hassell, while Brunello is highly regarded in classical and contemporary music circles for his interpretive versatility. "Descansado - Songs for Films" was recorded at ArteSuono Studio in Udine, Italy, in March 2017 and produced by Manfred Eicher.

Happy Birthday Vaj!

Let's follow up with some previously mentioned quarterbacks. Zach Collaros http://3downnation.com/2018/01/03/new-riders-qb-zach-collaros-tremendous-opportunity/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/03/pick-traded-riders-darian-durant-turns-zach-collaros/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/03/riders-zach-collaros-expected-renegotiate-contract/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/03/kent-austin-couple-other-teams-also-involved-in-zach-collaros-trade-discussions/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/03/riders-have-already-started-discussions-about-renegotiating-zach-collaros-contract/#comments http://159.203.52.247/2018/01/03/davis-collaros-good-get-riders-returns-form/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/03/zach-collaros-familiar-with-riders-chris-jones/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/03/milton-ticats-zach-collaros-represents/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/03/dyakowski-welcomes-collaros-calls-ridernation-cult-good-way/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/03/chris-jones-zach-collaros-hes-just-really-really-fine-football-player/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/04/milton-collaros-departure-leaves-melancholic-aftertaste/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/07/zach-collaros-trade-win-riders-ticats/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/08/zach-collaros-trade-makes-riders-better/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/08/zach-collaros-touching-down-in-riderville-on-tuesday/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/09/davis-collaros-equipped-to-handle-riders-fishbowl/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/09/zach-collaros-felt-like-a-kid-on-his-first-day-of-school-in-riderville/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/11/riders-coaches-tasked-with-getting-zach-collaros-back-to-mop-form-chris-jones/#comments ***** Darian Durant http://3downnation.com/2017/12/23/alouettes-qb-darian-durant-large-bonus-due-january/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/16/alouettes-gm-kavis-reed-durant-dont-regrets/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/16/eight-possible-landing-spots-darian-durant/#comments ***** James Franklin http://3downnation.com/2018/01/05/argos-officially-sign-qb-james-franklin/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/05/new-argos-qb-james-franklin-willing-patient-ricky-ray-returns/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/05/qb-james-franklin-says-riders-werent-radar/#comments ***** Josh Freeman http://3downnation.com/2018/01/09/alouettes-re-add-qb-josh-freeman-neg-list/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/13/quarterback-josh-freeman-signs-two-year-deal-alouettes/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/14/freeman-manziel-will-avoid-montreals-night-life-sutton/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/14/alouettes-fans-dont-know-expect-enigma-freeman/#comments ***** Kevin Glenn http://3downnation.com/2018/01/11/eskimos-spoken-former-riders-qb-kevin-glenn/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/15/kevin-glenn-was-surprised-by-riders-release/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/16/edmonton-sun-nails-front-page-kevin-glenn-signs-eskimos/#comments ***** Johnny Manziel http://3downnation.com/2018/01/13/cfl-personnel-men-question-johnny-manziels-demands/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/14/manziel-fatigue-shows-downside-making-neg-lists-public/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/16/bo-levi-mitchell-on-johnny-manziel-contract-demands-its-questionable/#comments

Yes Joe, I was going to say the same thing. I went there in 1970, and as I recall there was a blackboard which said, "Requests $5.00. Saints $10.00."

Thanks guys! I appreciate your kind words. In the upper left corner you will see a tab called "browse." Then below "browse" you will see from left to right "forums," "blogs" and "calendar." Click on "calendar," and you will be taken to the calendar which lists "birthdays."