GA Russell

This is real jazz, as opposed to smooth jazz, but it is pretty light. I think that it would be a very good choice to put on when you have friends over for dinner (who have not told you their opinions regarding music). Except track #9, which is the sort of thing which would cause my mother to yell, "Turn that off!" LOL

Sony has released very inexpensive 3-CD boxes. Toots Thielmans - $5.53 + $3.99 https://www.amazon.com/Real-Toots-Thielemans-THIELEMANS-TOOTS/dp/B01MRANE12/ ***** Earth, Wind and Fire - $6.12 + $3.99 https://www.amazon.com/Real-Earth-Wind-Fire-EARTH/dp/B01N15M8H3/ ***** Carole King - $5.54 + $3.99 https://www.amazon.com/Real-Carole-King-KING-CAROLE/dp/B01N7WV2N6/ ***** John Barry - $4.28 + $3.99 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KYQWVKG/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Happy Birthday 2017 jlh!

ECM Avishai Cohen Cross My Palm With Silver Avishai Cohen: trumpet Yonathan Avishai: piano Barak Mori: double bass Nasheet Waits: drums U.S. Release date: May 5, 2017 ECM 2548 CD UPC: 6025 572 9057 8 LP UPC: 6025 573 9780 2 A year after his impressionistic, critically-lauded ECM debut Into The Silence, Avishai Cohen’s Cross My Palm With Silver introduces a program of new pieces which put the focus on the ensemble, on teamwork, with an exceptional quartet. The adroit interplay among the musicians allows Avishai Cohen to soar, making it clear why the pure-toned trumpeter is one of the most talked-about jazz musicians on the contemporary scene. “All of these people together are my dream team”, says Cohen of fellow players Yonathan Avishai, Barak Mori and Nasheet Waits, who share his sense for daring improvisation and his feeling for structure. “I feel we’re in a perfect place with the balance. It’s open and there’s so much room for the improvisation to take the music any place we can. At the same time the composition is very specific and the vibe is very direct and thought about.” Cohen praises drummer Nasheet Waits, a musical partner for more than a decade, for “allowing the music to grow in an amazing way. I’ve never heard him play the same thing twice. A groove or beat never sounds the same. Spending time on the road with him is always inspiring. For me, he is a real link to the tradition and to the masters.” The arrival of bassist Barak Mori, a friend since high school days, has “tied the band together,” says Cohen: “His swing feel is incredible. Every little note he plays is so clear and so pretty.” Pianist Yonathan Avishai is Cohen’s “musical brother – a big part of my musical journey” ­– they started out together in Tel Aviv, aged 12, and through formative years “played everything from Ornette Coleman music to standards, Gershwin and Duke, always trying to go deeper. Never taking things for granted, keeping the search active.” The quartet spent much of last year on the road and, shortly before the recording session in September 2016, Cohen began to ease the material he had been writing since Into The Silence into the live set. Into The Silence had been a very personal statement, written soon after the death of Cohen’s father. Its reflections on mortality were conveyed with an expressive grace and yearning lyricism that struck a responsive chord with many listeners. This time there was no over-arching thematic concept: “But I still used the same rules I’d given myself for the first album,” Cohen says. “Which were: to stay attuned to the current situation in my life and not go back to any older material of mine.” Avishai Cohen wrote the music in Israel, the political climate in the Middle East and elsewhere inducing a familiar sense of helplessness. Like Mingus or Max Roach before him, Cohen uses his song titles to point to injustices at home and abroad as a small gesture of dissent. Meanwhile the beauty of the music makes its own argument. “I’m affected by what happens in my country and in the world…And by how politics divides us as people. At least to me, this music raises some question about what it is we are here to do. There’s a beautiful phrase in Judaism: if you save one soul it’s as if you saved the whole world. Change should start from there. Each of us should do whatever we can to be compassionate. I don’t know how much the music represents that, but that’s what I was feeling when I was writing it.” As with Into The Silence, Cross My Palm With Silver was produced by Manfred Eicher at Studios La Buissonne in the south of France and is issued on the eve of a major European tour. Touring in the US is planned for September 2017. ECM Louis Sclavis / Dominique Pifarély / Vincent Courtois Asian Fields Variations Louis Sclavis: clarinets Dominique Pifarély: violin Vincent Courtois: violoncello U.S. Release date: May 5, 2017 ECM 2504 B0026545-02 UPC: 6025 573 2668 0 Asian Fields Variations marks the first time that clarinettist Louis Sclavis, violinist Dominique Pifarély and cellist Vincent Courtois, long-time colleagues, have recorded as a trio. Sclavis summoned the project into existence, but emphasizes that this is a democratic group of creative equals: “I proposed that we make a real collective, and each of us composes for the program.” All three are major figures in contemporary French creative music: this is a new group with a lot of history. Sclavis and Pifarély have played together in diverse contexts for 35 years, Sclavis and Courtois for 20 years. As one can hear on the recording, they have retained the capacity to surprise each other – and their listeners – as improvisers. Alertness and freshness are key qualities here. “We’re always drawing also on a lot of different playing experiences. And those experiences are reflected in what we write, and what we play. We’re continually bringing new things to the project, and we keep going deeper.” If the instrumentation – clarinet, violin, cello – implies a chamber music orientation, Sclavis suggests this is only part of the story. “What I am doing, as I’ve often done in the past, is just writing for the musicians. So I ask myself simple questions: What does Dominique play best? What does he like to play? And Vincent? And how about me? What do I love to play? And these considerations are the starting points.” Each of the players has his own compositional signature, however, with Dominique Pifarély’s pieces being perhaps the most rigorously “written” here. The balance of composition and improvisation, Sclavis notes, was also readjusted in the course of the recording session, produced by Manfred Eicher, at Studios La Buissone in Pernes-les-Fontaines in the South of France in September 2016. * Sclavis (born 1953 in Lyon) originally encountered Pifarély (born 1957 in Bègles) in the group of bassist Didier Levallet. “It was immediately a very good feeling to play with Dominique and I invited him to join my group for the recording Chine [IDA records, 1987].” This was promptly followed by the Sclavis/Pifarély Acoustic Quartet album on ECM. “Altogether I must have played in around fifteen different formations and projects with Dominique.” These include Les violences de Rameau, recorded in 1995 and 1996, featuring some flamboyant playing inspired by baroque composer Jean-Philippe Rameau. Vincent Courtois (born 1968 in Paris) was first asked by Sclavis to participate in a theatre music project in the late 1990s. “I found Vincent’s playing very touching, and we had a strong musical connection.” Courtois arrived in Sclavis’s band in time to participate in the recording of L’affrontement des prétendants in 1999, and can also be heard on the 2002 recording Napoli’s Walls. The 2000 recording Dans la nuit, featuring Sclavis’s music for the silent movie by Charles Vanel, marked the first occasion that Louis, Dominique and Vincent had appeared together on disc (in an ensemble completed by Jean-Louis Matinier and François Merville). They toured widely with the project: “In some ways it was the opposite of what we are doing now, because we had to match the music to images and we were trying to play exactly the same every night. But for developing a sound together and for precision and discipline, it was very good for us.” The first trio performances – “fifteen or sixteen years ago” – found Sclavis, Pifarély and Courtois on the road in Africa and South America. After crossing each other’s paths repeatedly in the following years (Pifarély and Courtois, in and out of Sclavis’s projects, have often played duo concerts, and Sclavis has also guested with Courtois’ groups) all three came together again in 2013 for a project with Japanese pianist Aki Takase, which underlined the special musical understanding these players share. The trio was officially re-launched in March 2015 with a new program of compositions premiered at the A Vaulx Jazz Festival, near Lyon. Now, in Spring 2017, they undertake a French regional tour with concerts in Bessé sur Braye (March 17), La Ferté-Bernard (March 22), La Flèche (March 28), Saint Saturnin (March 29), La Roche sur Yon (March 30), Flers (April 1), Voiron (April 2), Parigné- L'Evêque (April 4), Saint Berthevin (April 5 and 6), Strasbourg (April 7), Saint Florent le Vieil (April 9), and Poitiers (May 30). International summer festival dates are currently being finalized. * Louis Sclavis, Dominique Pifarély and Vincent Courtois have between them a rich, multifaceted discography on ECM. In addition to his recordings as leader, Sclavis can be heard on the recently issued Ida Lupino with Giovanni Guidi, Gianluca Petrella and Gerald Cleaver; this quartet is also currently touring. Dominique Pifarély has had two ECM albums released in the last two years, the solo violin recital Time Before And Time After and the quartet album Tracé Provisoire, with pianist Antonin Rayon, bassist Bruno Chevillon and drummer François Merville. He also appears on Poros with François Couturier and recordings with Stefano Battaglia (Raccolto and Re:Pasolini, the latter also featuring Vincent Courtois). Courtois can furthermore be heard on In Touch with trombonist Yves Robert.

oldies.com is again having a 99 cents sale.

Linda Ronstadt - Just One Look/Very Best of (2 CDs, 30 songs) - $4.99 add on https://www.amazon.com/Just-One-Look-Linda-Ronstadt/dp/B010B797R8

Ted, I remember that we talked about this one a number of years ago. For an easy listening album, I think it's terrific. Didn't this one have the theme for the Dating Game on it?

I continue to listen to this, and still enjoy it.

This one is good. Easygoing piano trio with occasional trombone, vocals and guitar.

I like this one a lot. Very mainstream piano trio.

This reminds me of early free jazz. I enjoy it on Saturdays, but not when I want to relax.

ECM Avishai Cohen Cross My Palm With Silver Release date: May 5,2017 Avishai Cohen: trumpet / Yonathan Avishai: piano Barak Mori: double bass / Nasheet Waits: drums A year after his impressionistic, critically-lauded ECM debut Into The Silence, trumpeter Avishai Cohen’s Cross My Palm With Silver introduces a program of new pieces which put the focus on the ensemble, on teamwork, with a quartet of the highest caliber. The adroit, almost telepathic interplay among the musicians allows Avishai Cohen to soar, making it clear why he is one of the most talked-about jazz musicians on the contemporary scene. “All of these people together are my dream team”, says the charismatic trumpeter of fellow players Yonathan Avishai, Barak Mori and Nasheet Waits, who share his sense for daring improvisation and his feeling for structure.

AS PART OF THE DIGITAL INCUNABULA SERIES M.O.D. TECHNOLOGIES Presents APOCALYPSE LIVE THE MASTER MUSICIANS of JAJOUKA led by BACHIR ATTAR with MATERIAL AVAILABLE ONLINE APRIL 21, 2017 AND VIA WWW.MOD-TECHNOLOGIES.COM PRE-ORDER STARTS APRIL 7. Bachir Attar ghaita, lira, guinbri Mustapha Attar ghaita, lira, drums Ahmed Bakhat drums, violin Abdellah Bohkzar drums Mohamed el Attar drums Bill Laswell bass Hamid Drake drums Aiyb Dieng percussion Graham Haynes cornet Peter Apfelbaum sax, flute Oz Fritz live sound James Dellatacoma backline produced by Bachir Attar & Bill Laswell New York, March 29, 2017 -THE MASTER MUSICIANS of JAJOUKA described as "the 4,000 year old rock 'n' roll band" by William S. Burroughs, hail from the foot hills of the riff mountains in Morocco. North African trance music at its most intense. They have worked and been closely associated with The Rolling Stones, Ornette Coleman, Paul Bowles, William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Donovan and many others. In this concert, they are aligned once again with long-time collaborator Bill Laswell and the Material collective, master drummer Hamid Drake, Senegalese percussionist Aiyb Dieng, Graham Hayens on cornet, Peter Apfelbaum on reeds. This is true dialogue and communication, not programmed fusion. TRACKS 1. Dancing from the Heart 18:40 2. The Bird's Prayer 18:54 3. The New and the Ancient 23:23 4. HLallia 07:09 Recorded by Oz Fritz on July 10th, 2015 at Gent Jazz Festival. Mix-translation by Bill Laswell & James Dellatacoma at Orange Music, West Orance, NJ. Mastered by Michael Fossenkemper at Turtle Tone Studio, NYC.

Here are pictures of homes which were built upside down. Maybe one of you could explain to me why anyone would want that! http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Upside+Down+House+&qs=n&form=QBIR&pq=upside+down+house+&sc=8-18&sp=-1&sk=

I was from the get go partial to the labels Fantasy eventually acquired. So I guess my favorite series was the twofers they put out in the late '90s.

Jason Miles Will Release Kind of New 2: Blue is Paris on May 12 Follow Up to 2015's Kind of New Features Ten Arrangements of Producer/Keyboardist's New Composition Written in Reaction to 2015 Paris Terror Attacks Jason Miles has raised the level of excellence for the musicians who have had the good fortune of working with him, myself included. The work he did with my friends Miles Davis and Marcus Miller have helped to define the modern face of jazz music."- Roberta Flack Legendary producer, keyboardist and composer Jason Miles' Kind of New 2: Blue is Paris, featuring ten interpretations of the titular piece which he composed after visiting Paris in the weeks immediately following the 2015 terror attacks, will be released on May 12 on Lightyear Entertainment, distributed worldwide through Caroline/Universal Music Group. The album's inspiration can be tracked back to 2015, when Jason found himself in Paris doing promotion for his critically acclaimed release Kind of New (Whaling City Sound), a collaboration with trumpeter Ingrid Jensen. He was so moved by the spirit of the city in the face of the horror and tragedy of the attacks, a spirit which he describes as "incredibly resilient," that when he returned home with the intent of working on music for a second Kind of New album, the first track that emerged was "Blue is Paris." As he pondered over how to integrate the track into a second Kind of New album, a surprising idea presented itself: why not recruit an assortment of other musicians and allow them to offer up varied arrangements of the track? The concept for the album hearkens back to Jason's childhood. "In the late 1950's my father bought an album, Lullaby of Birdland, which was that same George Shearing song done twelve times by twelve different musicians and arrangers. I found the album in my vinyl collection that he left to me, and I thought, 'Wow, this could work if I did the same thing.'" Jason found additional inspiration from his years working with Miles Davis. "I then thought about Miles, who said to never stay in the same place and always explore and try new things." Jason Talks about Kind of New 2: Blue is Paris On that debut Kind of New album, Jason chose to work with trumpeter Ingrid Jensen because her playing was very much in the spirit of Miles. "I chose to emphasize the trumpet because of how iconic it is when it comes to representing everything that Miles stood for," says Jason. On Kind of New 2: Blue is Paris, he's expanded that concept to work with four impressive trumpet players - Russell Gunn, Theo Croker, Patches Stewart and Jukka Eskola - who have all been influenced by Miles but who each plays in his own powerful style. "Miles affected a paradigm change by continuing to reinvent 'jazz' time after time," explains Jason. "I'm trying to reinvent the possibilities that exist within a single composition, by allowing different feature soloists to each create his own impression. And that is exactly what Miles stood for...great possibilities." In addition to Jason's version of "Blue is Paris" and the interpretations of the track by the above trumpeters, the album features performances by guitarist Ricardo Silveira; saxophonist Jeff Coffin; vocalist Maya Azucena; and Ricky Kej on various Indian instruments, including tabla, high tabla, santoor and dumbek. Joining Jason on the album is a core band comprised of Gene Lake on drums, Reggie Washington and Adam Dorn on bass, Jay Rodrigues on tenor sax and bass clarinet and Vinnie Zummo on guitar. The collection of artists that Jason tapped for the project speaks in a large sense to the spirit of unity through diversity that speaks through Kind of New 2: Blue is Paris. Grammy-winning Indian composer Ricky Kej notes that, "The Paris attacks left me horrified, and I felt a need to express myself through music. The romanticism, beauty and resilience of Paris can be interpreted well by improvisational Hindustani classical music, which I did though the bansuri, santoor and tablas." Finnish trumpeter Jukka Eskola continued in the same vein. "Even though the inspiration for this track comes from a tragedy, the song, with its loose and relaxed groove has a positive feeling to it and reminds us that life goes on." Guitarist Ricardo Silveira, who has collaborated with Jason since he released Cozmopolitan in 1979, brings his decades as a prime purveyor of Brazilian jazz to the mix. "What makes each track different is the concept of what melodic content these very different artists each came up with, what they each heard in order to bring their own musical personalities into their tracks," says Jason. "Once they sent me their performances, I got very inspired to create a musical environment for each track that was true to the song but still distinctive in its own right." About Jason Miles With over 130 albums to his credit as a performer, programmer and a producer and 15 as a leader, Jason Miles' career is as storied in its own right as are the careers of the best known artists with whom he's collaborated: Miles Davis, Marcus Miller, Luther Vandross, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, David Sanborn, and Grover Washington, Jr., to name just a few. He's been nominated for an Emmy award, a Latin Grammy award, and three Grammy awards, taking home a Grammy as the producer of A Love Affair: The Music of Ivan Lins, which featured Sting's Best Male Pop Vocal award winner "She Walks This Earth." Jason also won the Billboard Latin Jazz Album of the Year award in 2002 for Gato Barbieri's Shadow of the Cat. Although he's best known in jazz circles, Jason's work has also extended beyond the boundaries of contemporary jazz. He ventured into country with his production of Suzy Bogguss' Sweet Danger (2006/Loyal Dutchess Records). His three recordings with Global Noize, a musical partnership with DJ Logic (2008's eponymous release, A Prayer for the Planet in 2011 and 2013's Sly Reimagined), represent a transcendent blending of genres, bringing together artist from across the spectrum: John Poppper, Me'Shell Ndgeocello, Cyro Baptista, Roberta Flack, and Nona Hendryx among them. This is the 7th album project produced by Jason for Lightyear Entertainment. He's also made musical contributions to film scores, a made-for-television movie (VH1's A Diva's Christmas Carol starring Vanessa Williams) and national commercials, including a five year national American Express campaign. For a full bio and discography, visit his website.

ECM Louis Sclavis / Dominique Pifarély / Vincent Courtois Asian Fields Variations releasing May 5th Louis Sclavis: clarinets Dominique Pifarély: violin Vincent Courtois: violoncello Asian Fields Variations marks the first time that clarinettist Louis Sclavis, violinist Dominique Pifarély and cellist Vincent Courtois have recorded as a trio. Sclavis summoned the project into existence, but this is a democratic group of creative equals: "I proposed that we make a real collective, and each of us composes for the program." For a 'new' group, it has a lot of pre-history: Sclavis and Pifarély have played together in diverse contexts for 35 years, Sclavis and Courtois for 20 years, but they retain the capacity to surprise each other as improvisers. "We’re drawing also on a lot of different playing experiences, and we’re continually bringing new things to the project. We keep going deeper." The album was recorded at Studios La Buissonne in Pernes-les-Fontaines last September, with Manfred Eicher as producer.

RIP. I had his 1960 bubble gum card.

oldies.com is having a sale on a number of Jasmine releases, including Esther Phillips, Ike & Tina Turner, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, Tubby Hayes, Brook Benton, Bird, Trane, Sonny, Ray Charles, Peggy Lee and Josephine Baker. http://www.oldies.com/search/results.cfm?q=jasmine+records&sort=low&tags=Music-CDs

Thanks, Duane. I'll pull out her CD right now. RIP.

June 26 - Blues Alley

Chris Potter Quartet on tour: May 31 Minneapolis, MN The Dakota June 1- 4 Chicago, IL Jazz Showcase June 6 Indianapolis, IN Jazz Kitchen June 7 San Diego, CA The Athenaeum June 8 Phoenix, AZ Musical Instrument Museum June 9 &10 Denver, CO DazzleJazz June 11 Half Moon Bay, CA Bach Dancing Society June 13 San Francisco, CA SFJAZZ Miner Auditorium June 14 Los Angeles, CA venue tba June 20-25 New York, NY The Village Vanguard June 26 Washington, DC Blues Alley

Recorded June 14, 2016 at Avatar Studios, New York Recording Engineer: James A. Farber DDD Producer: Manfred Eicher ECM Chris Potter The Dreamer Is the Dream Chris Potter: tenor and soprano saxophones, bass clarinet David Virelles: piano, keyboards Joe Martin: double bass Marcus Gilmore: drums, percussion U.S. Release date : April 28, 2017 ECM 2519 B0026400-02 UPC: 6025 574 0661 0 Chris Potter Quartet on tour: May 31 Minneapolis, MN The Dakota June 1- 4 Chicago, IL Jazz Showcase June 6 Indianapolis, IN Jazz Kitchen June 7 San Diego, CA The Athenaeum June 8 Phoenix, AZ Musical Instrument Museum June 9 &10 Denver, CO DazzleJazz June 11 Half Moon Bay, CA Bach Dancing Society June 13 San Francisco, CA SFJAZZ Miner Auditorium June 14 Los Angeles, CA venue tba June 20-25 New York, NY The Village Vanguard June 26 Washington, DC Blues Alley For his third ECM release as a leader, Chris Potter presents a new acoustic quartet that naturally blends melodic rhapsody with rhythmic muscle. The group includes superlative musicians well known to followers of ECM’s many recordings from New York over the past decade: keyboardist David Virelles, bassist Joe Martin and drummer Marcus Gilmore, who each shine in addition to the leader on multiple horns. The Dreamer Is the Dream features Potter on tenor saxophone – the instrument that has made him one of the most admired players of his generation – in the striking opener “Heart in Hand” and such album highlights as “Yasodhara,” as well as on soprano sax (“Memory and Desire”) and bass clarinet (the title track). Potter is an artist who “employs his considerable technique in service of music rather than spectacle,” says The New Yorker, and his composing develops in texture and atmosphere with every album. Potter and company recorded The Dreamer Is the Dream at New York City’s Avatar Studios, following several days of preproduction run-throughs in Switzerland and a long string of live performances before that. By the time they convened at Avatar, the music flowed out abundantly, with producer Manfred Eicher helping to shape the end result to dramatic effect. Potter says, “As a player, you can get lost in the thicket of things. But Manfred sees the forest, not just the trees. He has a real feel for the big picture – mood, density, an album as storytelling. I’ve made a lot of records with him now, and I appreciate more and more the synergistic give and take with him.” As for the quartet, its “cross-generational mix of personalities feels special,” Potter says. “Joe Martin I’ve known the longest – we used to play all the same New York clubs back in the ’90s. Along with the fact that he always plays perfectly in tune, he has this focused, deliberate approach to the bass, very clear and supportive – he’s the foundation of the band. This quartet has a big dynamic range, but also more control, allowing me to play in a thoughtful way. Joe is a big part of that. “Now Marcus, he’s a very individual drummer,” Potter adds. “He doesn’t have a splashy, flashy sound, but one that’s subtle, detailed, very musical. He has his own way of playing and seems to evolve every six months. On piano, David is coming from a unique place, having grown up in Cuba but never playing in any stereotypical Latin way. His musical center is much further to the left than some of his forebears. He has made a serious study of Cuban folkloric rhythms but also of avant-garde jazz. He plays with Henry Threadgill, and then I’ll see him working on a Ligeti etude. The rhythmic sophistication of David’s playing is just extraordinary. And the way David and Marcus interact rhythmically has this particular generational character – it’s their own thing. It’s hard to put your finger on it, but Joe and I share it in our own way. Our generation – with people like Brad Mehldau, Joshua Redman, Kurt Rosenwinkel – has its own sensibility, its own center of rhythmic gravity. Marcus and David’s generation is building on what we did just as we did on the generation before us. That’s challenging – and inspiring.” Potter describes his compositional method as often being “like a dream state.” “Heart in Hand,” “Memory and Desire” and the album’s title track each came from such free-associative writing sessions. The title track includes some of Potter’s most expressive playing on bass clarinet, while “Memory and Desire” is notable for its opening atmosphere set by samples as well as the multiple woodwind overdubs, Potter having imagined it scored all of a piece. He explored inspirations further afield with “Yasodhara,” named for the wife Buddha left behind; this track reveals its Indian influence in a 10-minute cycling of tempos, along with being marked by an especially dramatic extended improvisation by Virelles. “Ilimba” evokes Africa, with Potter designing the piece around a pattern he wrote on the titular thumb piano; the piece also includes an exciting drum solo from Gilmore. “Sonic Anomaly” is the album’s “light-hearted kicker,” in Potter’s words. The creative process for each of Potter’s ECM albums has varied widely, part of an ideal of evolution. “One of the challenges in jazz is that we have to ask ourselves how comfortable we are working in a different way from the time before – and pushing past that,” he says. “I try to keep in mind that the primary value of jazz is its aesthetic of surprise, not only for the audience but for the artist. It’s the art of making it up as you go along, taking advantage of happy accidents and finding the story to unfold on the way. That’s when the magic happens.” Chris Potter Since bursting onto the New York scene in 1989 as an 18-year-old prodigy with bebop icon Red Rodney, Potter has steered a steady course of growth as an instrumentalist and composer-arranger. A potent improviser and the youngest musician ever to win Denmark's Jazzpar Prize, Potter has forged an impressive discography that includes 17 albums as a leader and sideman appearances on 100 more. He was nominated for a Grammy Award for his solo work on "In Vogue," a track from Joanne Brackeen’s 1999 album Pink Elephant Magic, and he featured prominently on Steely Dan’s Grammy-winning album from 2000, Two Against Nature, and Dave Holland’s ECM Grammy-winner from 2002, What Goes Around. He has performed or recorded with such leading names in jazz as Pat Metheny, Herbie Hancock, Jim Hall, Paul Motian, Ray Brown, John Scofield and Dave Douglas, as well as with the Mingus Big Band. Potter made his ECM debut on Dave Holland’s 2000 album Prime Directive, following that with appearances on the bassist’s Not for Nothin’, Extended Play: Live at Birdland and What Goes Around. Along with featuring on Steve Swallow’s Always Pack Your Uniform on Top and Damaged in Transit, Potter collaborated with Paul Motian and Jason Moran on the 2010 ECM live album Lost in a Dream. Potter’s ECM leader debut of 2013, The Sirens, saw him at the head of a quartet with bassist Larry Grenadier, drummer Eric Harland and both Craig Taborn and David Virelles on keyboards. BBC Online praised the album as proof that “the union of Potter and ECM promises to be happy and fruitful.” The saxophonist’s second ECM release, 2015’s classically tinged Imaginary Cities, featured his Underground Orchestra, a group that built on the core of his previous Underground Quartet with Taborn, guitarist Adam Rogers and drummer Nate Smith to also include two bassists, a string quartet and Potter’s old band mate from the Dave Holland Quintet, vibraphonist Steve Nelson. All About Jazz called the album “a masterpiece.”

Chicago Saxophonist Chris Greene Continues to Explore New Musical Territories On "Boundary Issues," Set for April 14 Release by Single Malt Recordings New Album Is Greene's 8th with Long-Standing Quartet Featuring Pianist Damian Espinosa, Bassist Marc Piane, Drummer Steve Corley CD Release Shows Include 4/21 Constellation, Chicago; 4/28 Gibraltar, Milwaukee; 5/20 Winter's, Chicago; 5/30 Promontory, Chicago; 6/17 Noce Jazz, Des Moines March 22, 2017 Saxophonist Chris Greene, a fixture on the Chicago scene dedicated to transcending the stylistic and structural borders of jazz, continues to discover new musical territory on his new CD Boundary Issues. Set for April 14 release on Single Malt Recordings, the album is Greene's eighth with the long-standing quartet he formed in 2005 featuring pianist Damian Espinosa, bassist Marc Piane, and, since 2011, drummer Steve Corley. Joining the core quartet as guests on several tracks are saxophonist Marqueal Jordan, known for his work with smooth jazz star Brian Culbertson; percussionist JoVia Armstrong, who's played with Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble and JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound; guitarist Isaiah Sharkey, a member of D'Angelo's band; and vocalist Julio Davis (aka DJ WLS). Greene's eclectic song selection, inventive arrangements, and choice of guests not normally associated with jazz perfectly coalesce to present a portrait of an artist unafraid to take the road less traveled, push the envelope, and explore the frontiers of jazz. In addition to three originals, Boundary Issues includes creative covers of works by Horace Silver ("Nica's Dream"), Kenny Kirkland ("Dienda"), Yellowjackets ("Summer Song"), and Billy Strayhorn ("Day Dream"). As his previous treatments of songs by artists as diverse as Madonna, Coltrane, Sting, Mingus, and lounge music king Martin Denny attest, Greene's naming his latest album Boundary Issues could be viewed as a tongue-in-cheek self-diagnosis. "I have a hard time staying in place," he confides. "I don't know my place, I guess, which is why I'm always stepping outside so-called boundaries. With the music I like, I just can't help thinking, what would it sound like if I did this, or this?" A case in point is his spacious reggae version of Horace Silver's "Nica's Dream." "I thought the biggest tribute to him would be to do something different," says Greene. "The idea to cover that classic as a reggae tune came to me while I was listening to music in the shower. It was like, why not?" Born in 1973 in Evanston, Illinois, Chris Greene was exposed to a lot of music at home but only a smattering of jazz. His mother blasted Motown at her monthly card parties while his father played a lot of funk, soul, and disco; he absorbed all manner of pop styles watching MTV. Taking up the sax at age 10, he began studying it seriously when he was 16, "playing the hell out of a blues pentatonic scale," he recalls. He mainly played alto in the well-regarded Evanston High School Wind & Jazz Ensemble, as well as with local bands including a rock unit called Truth. "They were into Sting and I was eager to be their Branford [Marsalis]," he says. He would eventually play acid jazz with bands like Liquid Soul and Ted Sirota's Heavyweight Dub Band. Greene studied at Indiana University with the late David Baker and the current jazz studies department chair Thomas Walsh. "It was a great experience for me," he says. "I was a kid with a lot of natural talent, but with a lack of discipline. I learned how to practice, how to break things down, how to solve problems." Upon his return to Chicago, he continued his education by reaching out to established artists including Steve Coleman. "He was hard-headed in his determination to play music his way," he says. "It was a huge eye-opener for me how he put things together." Greene also got a major boost from Coleman's legendary mentor, Chicago tenor legend Von Freeman, at one of his famous jam sessions: "He didn't know me from Adam, but he was very encouraging. He said, 'Hey, I hear what you're trying to do. Keep at it.' That meant so much." In 2005, Greene formed his current quartet. Whether the group is hugging tradition or engaging in experimentation, it radiates a deep sense of well-being. With each release, Greene has moved steadily from funk mildly seasoned with jazz to uncompromising jazz boasting subtle funk touches. As witness the title of the quartet's 2012 album, A Group Effort, Greene prizes the band's ability to think and feel as one, to "leave fingerprints on each other's playing." The Chris Greene Quartet will be celebrating the release of Boundary Issues at the following Midwest engagements: 4/21 Constellation, Chicago; 4/28 Gibraltar, Milwaukee; 5/1 La Principal, Evanston, IL; 5/20 Winter's, Chicago; 5/30 Promontory, Chicago; 6/9-10 Pete Miller's, Evanston, IL; 6/17 Noce Jazz, Des Moines; 6/18 Custer St. Festival of the Arts, Evanston; 7/5 Jazzin' at the Shedd (concert series at Shedd Aquarium, Chicago). Chris Greene Quartet: "Boundary Issues" EPK Photography: Ozzie Ramsay Web Site: chrisgreenejazz.com

Ted, I picked up Slow Horses a while back. I suppose I should read it before the football season starts!