GA Russell

Last night... Otha Foster - BC http://3downnation.com/2018/02/14/former-rider-otha-foster-signs-b-c-lions/#comments ***** Here is this morning's new top 20 of free agents still available. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/15/new-no-1-top-20-cfl-free-agents/#comments https://www.cfl.ca/2018/02/14/not-done-yet-whos-radar-day-3/ ***** Announced today... Greg Morris - Toronto http://3downnation.com/2018/02/15/argos-sign-former-riders-canadian-rb-greg-morris/#comments Cody Fajardo - BC http://3downnation.com/2018/02/15/lions-add-qb-cody-fajardo/#comments ***** Now here are today's recaps after three days of free agency. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/15/3downpodcast-winners-losers-free-agency/#comments https://www.cfl.ca/2018/02/15/still-shopping-still-needs-free-agency/ ***** Here is a lot of good gossip from earlier today. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/15/cfl-free-agency-live-chat/#comments

Day 2 signings... TJ Heath - Toronto http://3downnation.com/2018/02/13/argos-closing-in-on-signing-all-star-db-t-j-heath/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/14/argos-make-it-official-all-star-db-t-j-heath-returns-to-toronto/#comments Travis Bond - Sask http://3downnation.com/2018/02/14/former-bombers-offensive-lineman-travis-bond-bound-for-riders/#comments Sam Hurl - Sask http://3downnation.com/2018/02/14/canadian-lb-sam-hurl-signs-riders/#comments Julian Feoli-Gudino - Ottawa http://3downnation.com/2018/02/14/canadian-rec-julian-feoli-gudino-signs-redblacks-report/#comments Swayze Waters - Toronto http://3downnation.com/2018/02/14/argos-bring-waters-back-boat/#comments Cory Watson - BC http://3downnation.com/2018/02/14/another-former-eskimo-going-left-coast-canadian-receiver-cory-watson-report/#comments https://www.cfl.ca/2018/02/14/lions-sign-national-receiver-watson/ Jamaal Westerman - Montreal http://3downnation.com/2018/02/14/canadian-dl-jamaal-westerman-chooses-alouettes/#comments https://www.cfl.ca/2018/02/14/westerman-heads-east-signs-deal-alouettes/ Jake Harty - Montreal http://3downnation.com/2018/02/14/former-redblacks-canadian-receiver-jake-harty-going-to-alouettes-report/#comments Mitchell Baines - Winnipeg http://3downnation.com/2018/02/14/bombers-sign-former-riders-ticats-canadian-receiver-mitchell-baines/#comments Rico Murray - Ottawa https://www.cfl.ca/2018/02/14/redblacks-add-defensive-back-murray/ ***** Henoc Muamba declined to take a pay cut, so the Riders cut him. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/14/with-bonus-looming-riders-asking-lb-henoc-muamba-to-take-a-pay-cut/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/14/riders-release-canadian-lb-henoc-muamba-report/#comments https://www.cfl.ca/2018/02/14/riders-release-lb-henoc-muamba/ ***** Here is a top 20 ranking of free agents from yesterday morning. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/13/cfl-free-agent-rankings-top-20/#comments Here is an analysis of yesterday's signings. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/14/grading-team-day-one-free-agency/#comments And here is a list of the top 20 still available this morning. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/14/whos-left-top-20-players-remaining-cfl-free-agency/#comments ***** Here are videos of Monday's preview, yesterday's recap and today's recap. https://www.cfl.ca/live/2018/02/09/cfl-ca-free-agency-day-2-recap-show-wednesday/ ***** Johnny Manziel has decided to play in a developmental league called The Spring League (anybody ever heard of it?). http://3downnation.com/2018/02/14/johnny-manziel-play-spring-league/#comments

Some late announcements... Ese Mrabure - Calgary http://3downnation.com/2018/02/13/canadian-dl-ese-mrabure-signs-with-stampeders/#comments Mitchell White - Montreal http://3downnation.com/2018/02/13/alouettes-agree-to-terms-with-db-mitchell-white/#comments Jerome Messam - Sask http://3downnation.com/2018/02/13/canadian-rb-jerome-messam-to-join-riders/#comments

Quite a number of people changed teams today on the first day of free agency. Lirim Hajrullahu - Hamilton http://3downnation.com/2018/02/13/lirim-hajrullahu-signs-ticats/#comments Alex Bazzie - Edmonton http://3downnation.com/2018/02/13/eskimos-bolster-defence-signing-free-agent-defensive-lineman-bazzie/#comments Nic Demski - Winnipeg http://3downnation.com/2018/02/13/canadian-receiver-returner-nic-demski-heads-winnipeg/#comments Joel Figueroa - BC http://3downnation.com/2018/02/13/lions-bolster-offensive-line-signing-veteran-free-agent-joel-figueroa/#comments AC Leonard - Ottawa http://3downnation.com/2018/02/13/redblacks-sign-former-riders-defensive-end-c-leonard/#comments Zack Evans - Sask http://3downnation.com/2018/02/13/riders-sign-canadian-defensive-tackle-zack-evans/#comments Kienan LaFrance - Winnipeg http://3downnation.com/2018/02/13/bombers-sign-former-riders-canadian-rb-kienan-lafrance/#comments Loucheiz Purifoy - Ottawa http://3downnation.com/2018/02/13/redblacks-sign-db-loucheiz-purifoy/#comments Chandler Fenner - Winnipeg http://3downnation.com/2018/02/13/bombers-sign-db-chandler-fenner/#comments Emmanuel Davis - Calgary http://3downnation.com/2018/02/13/stampeders-sign-former-ticats-db-emanuel-davis/#comments Garry Peters - BC http://3downnation.com/2018/02/13/former-eskimos-db-garry-peters-signs-with-lions/#comments ***** In related news... Ted Laurent decided not to leave Hamilton. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/13/ticats-re-sign-dl-ted-laurent/#comments Roy Finch will stay with Calgary. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/13/stampeders-extend-2017-outstanding-special-teams-player-roy-finch/#comments DaVaris Daniels will stay with Calgary. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/12/stampeders-re-sign-2016-outstanding-rookie-receiver-davaris-daniels/#comments ***** Sask has cut Derek Dennis. Last year he was the league's highest paid American OL. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/13/riders-cut-derek-dennis-leagues-highest-paid-american-lineman-in-2017/#comments ***** Here are summaries of the day. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/13/flurry-moves-cfl-free-agency-gets-rolling/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/13/free-agency-analysis-ticats-banking-2017-squad-can-get-done-year/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/13/bombers-hit-home-run-opening-day-free-agency/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/13/lions-hope-quality-comes-record-free-agent-haul/#comments https://www.cfl.ca/2018/02/13/open-market-5-highlights-day-1-free-agency/ https://www.cfl.ca/2018/02/13/team-team-look-free-agency/ ***** Here was the league's Jan. 22 list of the top 30 pending free agents. https://www.cfl.ca/2018/01/22/cfl-cas-top-30-pending-free-agents-2/

I remember my parents buying a record player in 1953 or '54. When they did, they also purchased a box set (a true box) of RCA recordings called "Music America Loves Best." These were not LPs, but 45 rpm EPs. Two songs I remember were Perry Como's Faraway Places and The Three Suns' Twilight Time.

Thanks Dana!

I thought that Jimmy Smith was not billed as "Incredible" until he moved to Verve. Is the OP album a Blue Note not released until after some Verve recordings were issued?

Continuing on... Dan LeFevour has decided to retire. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/10/bombers-qb-dan-lefevour-set-retire-football/#comments ***** The Argos have a very attractive pair of QBs in Ricky Ray and James Franklin, and their contracts are salary cap-friendly. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/10/contract-details-argos-quarterbacking-pay-structure/#comments ***** Kacy Rodgers II has signed with the New York Jets. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/06/riders-db-kacy-rodgers-to-sign-with-new-york-jets/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/10/jets-sign-former-riders-db-son-defensive-coordinator-kacy-rodgers/#comments ***** Diontae Spencer has worked out with Baltimore. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/07/top-pending-free-agent-receiver-diontae-spencer-works-ravens/#comments ***** Jeff Knox, Jr., has signed with Tampa Bay. http://3downnation.com/2018/01/31/riders-allow-jeff-knox-jr-contract-pursue-nfl-opportunity/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/06/former-riders-lb-jeff-knox-jr-signs-with-tampa-bay-bucs/#comments ***** It looks like Moe Leggett's Achilles injury has healed, and that he will be back with the Bombers. http://3downnation.com/2018/01/31/maurice-leggett-dunking-shows-achilles-injury-has-healed-quickly/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/06/bombers-re-sign-maurice-leggett/#comments

There is an ongoing story that I have held off on posting on because it is complicated, and not all the facts are known (at least by the public). On Jan 24, James Wilder announced that he would not play in 2018. The Argos will not let him out of his contract if he were to make an NFL team. Wilder feels the risk to his health is not justified by a second year of CFL wages. Other teams are letting their players try out for the NFL. Ambrosie has fined BC for letting Micah Awe go. I will post the links in the next few days. ***** Free Agency begins tomorrow at noon eastern. Here are a number of analyses of who is available and who might be interested. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/01/cfl-free-agent-rankings-quarterbacks/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/02/cfl-free-agent-rankings-american-receivers/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/08/cfl-free-agent-rankings-national-receivers/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/10/cfl-free-agent-rankings-running-backs/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/10/cfl-free-agent-rankings-offensive-line/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/11/cfl-free-agent-rankings-defensive-line/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/12/cfl-free-agent-rankings-linebackers/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/12/cfl-free-agent-ranking-specialists/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/12/cfl-free-agent-rankings-defensive-backs/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/11/2017-free-agent-frenzy-scorecard-west-division/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/12/2017-free-agent-frenzy-scorecard-east-division/#comments ***** June Jones has brought in Jerry Glanville! http://3downnation.com/2018/02/11/former-nfl-head-coach-jerry-glanville-joins-ticats-coaching-staff-2/#comments ***** Five have tried out with Baltimore. http://3downnation.com/2018/01/18/ravens-host-five-cflers-tryouts-including-grey-cup-mvp/#comments ***** Chris Matthews has worked out with Jacksonville. http://3downnation.com/2018/01/18/former-bombers-receiver-chris-matthews-works-jacksonville-jaguars/#comments Scott Milanovich was a coach with Jacksonville this past year. http://3downnation.com/2018/01/17/former-argos-head-coach-scott-milanovich-one-win-away-from-super-bowl/#comments ***** Edmonton cut Marcus Howard and Danny Groulx. http://3downnation.com/2018/01/22/eskimos-release-four-veterans/#comments ***** Rob Cote has retired. http://3downnation.com/2018/01/23/veteran-fullback-rob-cote-retires-11-seasons-stampeders/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/23/rob-cote-trends-on-twitter-after-retirement-former-teammates-react/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/01/23/unsung-hero-rob-cote-steps-away/#comments ***** Montreal cut Frederic Plesius. http://3downnation.com/2018/01/31/alouettes-cut-lb-frederic-plesius-avoid-paying-roster-bonus/#comments ***** Winnipeg has signed Anthony Gaitor. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/01/bombers-sign-former-lions-db-anthony-gaitor/#comments ***** Josh Bell has retired, and will join the Stampeders' coaching staff. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/01/stamps-db-josh-bell-retires-joins-calgary-coaching-staff/#comments ***** DeVier Posey is signing with Baltimore. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/02/grey-cup-mvp-devier-posey-sign-baltimore-ravens/#comments ***** Dan Federkeil has decided to retire. http://138.197.137.206/2018/02/02/stampeders-ol-dan-federkeil-to-retire-report/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/08/stampeders-ol-dan-federkeil-announces-retirement-cfl/#comments ***** Jim Stillwagon has died at only 68. RIP. http://www.3downnation.com/2018/02/05/time-argo-jim-stillwagon-dead-68/#comments ***** Cuachy Muamba has signed with BC. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/12/canadian-db-cauchy-muamba-moves-to-the-left-coast-signs-with-lions/#comments ***** Ottawa has cut Drew Tate and signed Dominique Davis. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/12/redblacks-agree-to-terms-with-bombers-qb-dominique-davis/#comments ***** Nic Demski is expected to sign with Winnipeg. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/11/strong-indications-riders-nic-demski-headed-bombers-free-agency-report/#comments ***** Montreal has allowed Kyries Hebert to speak with teams to determine his market value. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/09/als-withhold-roster-bonus-tell-kyries-hebert-can-seek-trade-report/#comments ***** Calgary has cut Marquay McDaniel. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/09/stampeders-release-veteran-receiver-marquay-mcdaniel/#comments ***** Calgary has told Jerome Messam he probably won't be back. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/08/stampeders-tell-veteran-running-back-messam-test-free-agency/#comments

I have received an email from Laurie saying that she is making Red Car (16 minutes from 1981) available for free through 2/18. https://artpepper.bandcamp.com/track/free-valentine-2-11-to-2-18-red-car

Let's try to catch up. Ottawa and Montreal swapped bilingual fullbacks - Patrick Lavoie for JC Beaulieu. http://3downnation.com/2018/01/30/redblacks-trade-patrick-lavoie-montreal-swap-canadian-fullbacks/#comments https://3downnation.com/2018/01/30/redblacks-gamble-moving-patrick-lavoie/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/01/beaulieu-lavoie-mean-end-nik-lewis-montreal/#comments ***** Ricky Ray has decided not to retire, but to return to the Argos. http://159.203.52.247/2018/02/02/ricky-ray-coming-back-argos/#comments http://138.197.137.206/2018/02/02/ricky-ray-admits-retirement-was-on-his-mind-but-returns-to-argos/#comments ***** Calgary traded Charleston Hughes to Hamilton for picks. Hamilton then traded Hughes to Regina for Vernon Adams. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/02/stampeders-trade-dl-charleston-hughes-to-the-ticats/ http://3downnation.com/2018/02/02/ticats-flip-charleston-hughes-riders-vernon-adams/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/02/ticats-deal-vernon-adams-johnny-course/#comments http://159.203.52.247/2018/02/02/adding-charleston-hughes-helps-short-term-riders-abandoned-long-game/#comments http://www.3downnation.com/2018/02/02/charleston-hughes-trade-makes-sense-still-sucks-stamps-fans/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/05/new-ticats-qb-vernon-adams-eats-burger-makes-good-first-impression/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/07/crazy-day-charleston-hughes-happy-end-riderville/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/07/bill-will-come-due-riders-big-money-moves/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/07/charleston-hughes-happy-go-shed-new-mosaic-stadium/#comments ***** Edmonton traded Odell Willis to Ottawa for Jake Ceresna. Ottawa then traded Willis to BC for picks. https://3downnation.com/2018/02/02/odell-willis-dealt-ottawa-will-soon-flip-b-c-report/#comments http://159.203.52.247/2018/02/02/willis-trade-serves-dual-role-lions/#comments ***** It is time for bonuses to be paid. As a result, a number of good players are getting cut. Edmonton cut Adarius Bowman, who signed with Winnipeg. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/04/big-bonus-due-options-table-bowman-eskimos/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/05/esks-release-receiver-adarius-bowman-report/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/05/esks-criticized-handling-bowman-release/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/05/riders-mix-adarius-bowman-sources/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/06/young-eskimos-fan-devastated-release-adarius-bowmam/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/06/eskimos-gm-sunderland-makes-unpopular-decision-to-cut-bowman/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/07/heartbroken-eskimo-kid-every-reason-sad/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/09/bombers-ink-star-receiver-adarius-bowman/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/09/why-adarius-bowman-landed-in-the-peg/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/09/bowman-rejects-better-offer-riders-join-bombers-report/#comments ***** Sask cut Kienan LaFrance and Shakir Bell. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/01/riders-release-two-running-backs-kienan-lafrance-and-shakir-bell/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/01/kienan-lafrance-cut-as-riders-dodge-off-season-bonus/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/02/andrew-harris-wants-fellow-winnipeg-native-kienan-lafrance-come-home/#comments http://3downnation.com/2018/02/06/alouettes-have-discussed-possibly-signing-kienan-lafrance-and-emanuel-davis/#comments ***** Winnipeg cut Dominique Davis. http://3downnation.com/2018/02/01/bombers-release-quarterback-dominique-davis/#comments

Happy Birthday BW!

Happy Birthday Michael!

Trumpeter/Composer/Arranger/Big Band Leader Bill Warfield Pays Tribute to His Late Mentor, Colleague, & Friend Trumpeter Lew Soloff On "For Lew," To Be Released March 9 by Planet Arts Records 10 Tracks Compiled from Four Warfield Big Band Albums (1990-2014) Plus Two Previously Unreleased Songs CD Release Show at the Zinc Bar, NYC, Saturday, March 24 February 7, 2018 Bill Warfield's career as a trumpeter was launched the moment he heard Lew Soloff's immortal solo on the Blood, Sweat & Tears hit "Spinning Wheel." "It just completely knocked me out," says Warfield, who was 18 at the time and gigging as a pianist, having given up hope of earning a living as a horn player due to dental problems. "I'd never heard anything like it. I decided at that point that I wanted to play the trumpet again." Eventually, Warfield would get to know, study, and record with Soloff, who died in 2014 at age 71. Warfield's latest album, For Lew, set for release on March 9 by Planet Arts Records, is a tribute to his late mentor, colleague, friend, and inspiration. Compiled from material Warfield recorded with his big band between 1990 and 2014, the album includes ten selections that first appeared on New York City Jazz (1990), The City Never Sleeps (1994), A Faceless Place (2005), and Trumpet Story (2014). Two of the tracks are previously unreleased. "Lew was such a warm, supportive human being," Warfield says of Soloff. "When he died, it took me a week to get over it. I patterned my playing after him. I wanted to do the gigs he did. I wanted to sound like him. I wanted to be like him. I wanted to be him. I patterned my whole career after that guy. He was a little nerdy guy who would put a horn in front of his mouth and became Superman. He was the guy who got me to take my writing seriously. On the second record I used him on, I used a few other people's charts. Then he pulled me to the side and said, 'Look, your writing is really special. You shouldn't include anybody else's stuff on your records.'" Five tunes on For Lew are Warfield originals; six arrangements are his. While drawn from four different sessions, each made up of different players, every track is an all-star affair. Soloff is the soloist on one track, "Salsa En Mi Alma," and is heard playing lead trumpet on that song and two others. In addition to Warfield, who solos on three tracks, other world-class instrumentalists among the disc's collective personnel are trumpeters Randy Brecker and John Eckert; trombonist Matt Havilan; saxophonists Dan Block, Andy Fusco, Bob Hanlon, Rich Perry, Chris Potter, and Walt Weiskopf; pianists Ted Rosenthal and Joel Weiskopf; guitarists Vic Juris and Dave Stryker; bassist Mike Richmond; and drummers Tim Hornerand Bob Weller. Warfield followed Soloff's advice and over the past quarter century has created a canon of music for large ensemble that showcases his distinctive composing and arranging style. He counts Hank Levy, Fred Lipsius, Dick Halligan, Mike Abene (who would produce his first two big band albums), Michel Colombier, Charles Mingus, Thad Jones, Gil Evans, and Bob Brookmeyer, along with Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Webern, Prokofiev, and other classical composers, as influences on his arranging style. Bill Warfield was born in Baltimore on March 2, 1952. He took up trumpet in the fourth grade because, he says, "it looked cool. Because it only had three buttons, I thought it would be easier to play." By the time he was 14, he played Saturday mornings with the orchestra and brass ensemble at the Peabody Conservatory Preparatory School and Saturday afternoons with the Maryland Youth Symphony, as well as with a teenage soul band called Nina and the Marcels. After recovering from a car accident in which he lost his front teeth, he studied for four years at Towson State with Hank Levy, an arranger noted for his charts for Don Ellis and Stan Kenton who was a key early influence. Warfield moved to New York City in 1980 and began subbing in the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, playing and arranging for the Bill Kirchner Nonet, and copying music for Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, and others, while earning a master's from the Manhattan School of Music. He toured Europe with Ornette Coleman, having been recommended by Lew Soloff. Warfield has spent three decades as an inspiring music educator. After stints at the Dalton School in New York, Brooklyn College, Towson State University in Maryland, and the University of North Florida, he joined the faculty at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA, in 1996. He continues to teach and direct the jazz program there three days per week. The other four days are usually spent in back in Manhattan, where he currently directs four bands: the New York Jazz Repertory Ensemble, the New York Jazz Octet (which includes tenor saxophonist Don Braden and pianist Kenny Werner), the Hell's Kitchen Funk Orchestra, and the Bill Warfield Big Band. The Bill Warfield Big Band will be performing two sets (7:00pm/8:30pm) at the Zinc Bar in Greenwich Village to celebrate the release of For Lew. Photography by John Abbott Web Site: billwarfield.net

Keith Jarrett to play solo concert Carnegie Hall March 21st at 8PM following release of new album: After The Fall Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette live in concert November 1998 release date: March 2nd 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, the trio glides and soars through classics of the Great American Songbook, plays breathtaking accounts of hallowed bebop tunes, and tackles a rare, energetic exploration of Coltrane’s “ Moment’s Notice”. Copyright © 2018 ECM Records. 1755 Broadway, Floor 3. New York, NY 10019. All rights reserved.

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.