GA Russell

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

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

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

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

Ken, I like yours much more than mine!

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

This one is down to $71.35 today.

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

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

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

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

Saxophonist Mark Turner Leads an Exploratory and Thought Provoking Journey in his Latest Release, Return from the Stars Quartet features Jason Palmer, Joe Martin, and Jonathan Pinson Available March 25 via ECM Records Mark Turner has been a frequent and significant presence on ECM recordings of the last dozen years, bringing his saxophone artistry and his musical commitment to recordings with Enrico Rava, the Billy Hart Quartet, the cooperative Fly trio (with Jeff Ballard and Larry Grenadier), Stefano Bollani and, most recently, Ethan Iverson, on the duo recording Temporary Kings. Albums under Turner’s leadership, however, have been rare and Return from the Stars is the first ECM recording to feature his quartet since 2014’s Lathe of Heaven. Turner’s writing for his group on Return from the Stars gives the players plenty of space in which to move, on an album both exhilarating and thoughtful in its arc of expression. Solos flow organically out of the arrangements and, beneath the dazzling interplay of Turner’s tenor and Jason Palmer’s trumpet, bassist Joe Martin and drummer Jonathan Pinson often roam freely. The absence of a chordal instrument keeps the conversational possibilities in the music wide open, as the compositions modulate between the meticulously structured and the loosely guided. Mark Turner puts a lot of faith in intuition and the shared artistic goals of an ensemble, and cherishes the narrative tension arising from the juxtaposition of freedom and responsibility: “My process in writing is that I write for the people playing,” he says. “I don’t like to say a lot to them about the compositions. I like to write a piece of music and know that the people I’ve chosen are going to play it, basically, the way they play. I’d rather they find themselves in the music. The tunes are written in such a way that each musician has a choice in terms of how they take care of what they’re supposed to be doing. There are parts written for the horns. Not so much is written for the rhythm section, except for a few ‘hits’ and maybe time changes in sections. I just give guidelines about how the section should feel and then I let bass and drums figure out how to do it. Whatever makes the rhythm section sound good, that’s what we do. Then, the horns will play on top of that. “ Bassist Joe Martin is the sole musician retained from the Lathe of Heaven line-up. He’s been playing with Turner in diverse contexts since 1995. And, as he outlined it to Music & Literature magazine: “I always feel, playing with Mark I have to play as well as possible and raise the bar. In the quartet, because there isn’t a piano or guitar player to fill a certain harmonic space for everybody, I’m more probably more conscious of my note choices. Just one single note choice changes everything, suggesting tonality, harmony.” Turner met dynamic drummer Jonathan Pinson while playing with Israeli guitarist Gilad Hekselman’s group. Pinson’s CV begins at a high level: he dived into the music at the deep end, touring with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Greg Osby while still in his early twenties. His résumé also includes work with Kamasi Washington, Ambrose Akinmusire, Dave Liebman and many others. Pinson makes his ECM debut with Return from the Stars, as does trumpeter Jason Palmer. Palmer and Mark Turner first encountered each other as sidemen in bands a decade ago. Mark subsequently played in projects led by the trumpeter, also recording in some of his projects (Places, Rhyme and Reason and The Concert). He singles out Palmer’s “willingness to go into zones unknown to him” among his outstanding qualities. The two of them share an encyclopaedic knowledge of the music. The Boston Phoenix has said of Palmer that he “builds fire with his secure tone and the cool deliberation of his solos”. The same could be said of Turner, who, according to National Public Radio, “has an innovative sonic signature, a certain floating chromaticism, rhythmic mindfulness and lightness of tone, filled with subtleties.” Return from the Stars takes its title from Stanisław Lem’s science fiction novel in which an astronaut returns from an exploratory space mission to find life on earth greatly changed, and his own values out of step with those of a conformist, risk-averse society. Turner’s sci-fi enthusiasms are well known, and some observers have perceived a kind of idiomatic ‘time travelling’ quality in his work: The Guardian described his ECM quartet album Lathe of Heaven (named after an Ursula K. Le Guin story) as “sounding like Birth of the Cool floated over a 21st-century rhythmic concept.” Deep study of a range of jazz masters has informed his style, his expressivity on the full range of the tenor saxophone, and the scope of his writing, which brings the music forward while being acutely aware of its history. Return from the Stars was recorded at New York’s Sear Sound Studio and mixed at Studios La Buissonne, in Southern France. The album was produced by Manfred Eicher.

Pianist Tord Gustavsen Returns with New Trio Album, Opening, Featuring Steinar Raknes and Jarle Vespestad Available April 8 via ECM Records Tord Gustavsen’s album Opening develops the traits and styles explored on his earlier works, while introducing a broader spectrum of suppleness and a transformed sense of interplay to the trio’s repertory. It is the first Gustavsen Trio recording with Steinar Raknes on bass and the newcomer feels quite at home supporting his colleagues in the deep end, settling in quickly between Tord’s refined chordal studies and Jarle Vespestad’s delicate stick- and brushwork. There’s a particularly striking openness to the music, marked by spacious improvisations and a tendency to reveal the secrets and melodies at their own pace. “The urge for saying something, be it abstract or lyrical, has to come from within,” Tord reasons. “During the recording of the album it felt better to do the breathing first, open up the soundscape in more organic ways and let the melody enter when it comes naturally.“ Multiple causes may account for the shift in temperament on Opening – the change in lineup certainly being one of them. Bassist Steinar Raknes establishes a firm counterpoint in the music. “He’s an extroverted bass player, who likes to take center stage, while also being an incredibly supportive and humble accompanist, so he moves very swiftly between background, collective and soloist roles.” An ideal counterbalance to the variable basslines, Jarle’s percussive rumination acts as a mediator, guiding his fellow musicians through alternating straight-ahead and rubato passages. Here more than ever Tord dwells on minuscule fragments, brief chord chains and scarce hints of motifs, developing the material patiently: “It’s something I’ve been doing a lot in solo concerts. Having themes just appear out of the dark and disappearing back into a shady undercurrent…” In a way picking up where the prior trio album The Other Side left off, album-opening "The Circle“ presents a hymnal refrain, fashioned with a humble design. “I was sitting at the piano and the first four bars just came to me. I worked out and developed the remaining structure deliberately, but more and more I find that the best tunes I’ve written over the years basically just came to me, like gifts. I then have the responsibility to shape the gift, make it grow and turn it into a complete piece”. The trio offers spontaneous moments of dense rubato interplay on “Opening” and “Findings," the latter of which ends on an instrumental quote of the Swedish folk song “Vis Fran Rattvik," “It shows that I was listening to the classic Swedish Folk-tune arrangements by the late Jan Johansson, who also happened to be one of the greatest Swedish jazz pianists. I’ve been learning many of his arrangements by heart, just as an exercise, and that influence is in evidence here." These are also the most freely improvised exhibits of the record, as is counterpart “Findings II." “I really enjoy building these miniatures — it’s something we often do in live situations. It’s about creating a shape, not about free improv in the sense of showing everything you’re capable of doing," With each song, the trio shifts focus, presenting the reduced, most skeletal shape of a composition on “The Longing," the gentle untangling of melody on “Shepherd Song” and the subtle deconstruction of a dance with “Helensburgh Tango” – “to the point where it almost doesn’t qualify as a tango anymore." Like “Re-opening," most songs have prescribed harmonic changes and general shapes, “but when to move from one chord or section to the next isn’t pre-composed, but decided between us, in the spur of the moment." “Stream” uncovers a ‘classic’ piano trio ballad in shape and execution. “Though seemingly counterintuitive, in the studio our interplay grew densest during Steinar’s solo, then we move into a collective crescendo – both spontaneous decisions that really shed a different light on the track.” “Ritual” follows, seeing Steinar taking the lead with guitar-like treble and Gustavsen being in charge of the lower frequencies, applying subtle electronics in the process. The group goes full circle with the one subject that pulls through Tord Gustavsen’s entire ECM oeuvre, as Opening closes with Norwegian folk themes: “Fløytelåt” (the flute) by composer Gveirr Tveitt and Egil Hovland’s “Vær sterk, min sjel” from the Norsk Salmebok, the Norwegian Hymnal. Instead of stating the obvious and immediately going for the melody, Gustavsen and his accompanists again broach the songs with openness, trading strict organization for thoughtful and effortless improvisation. Opening was recorded in Lugano’s Auditorio Stelio Molo in November 2021 and produced by Manfred Eicher.

John Scofield Releases His First-Ever Solo Guitar Recording Available May 6 via ECM Records Listen to "Honest I Do" on Guitar Player Watch an Exclusive Video Interview About the Album on Jazz Guitar Today With a career spanning over half a century, marked by influential collaborations with jazz greats like Miles Davis and Joe Henderson as well as several dozen genre-bending leader dates, it’s all the more striking that this is in fact John Scofield’s first ever guitar-solo recording. The long wait, however, pays off, as John is able to benefit from his decades of experience and charts an intimate path through the styles and idioms he has traversed up until today. He is not entirely all on his own on this endeavour though: the guitarist enters into dialogues with himself, soloing to his own tasteful chordal and rhythmic accompaniment via loop machine. “I think that there’s a delicateness that I have acquired from playing at home alone," Scofield has recently said in conversation with The Boston Herald. “I am so used to playing with a slamming band […] and there’s a certain musicality to that. That went away and was replaced by this more delicate approach of pinpointing the beauty of the strings. When I play solo, I make these little guitar loops on the fly, […] and it’s almost like I’m playing with another person.” Not uncommon for self-titled recordings, a deeper meaning can be read into choosing the album name John Scofield, as John digs deep into the past, all the way back to his roots and the heroes of his youth. The result is a balanced and thorough picture of the musician, tying together the music that shaped him and that he has subsequently continued to influence and forge himself. “When I was a kid the guitar was the instrument of rock and roll and popular music, that’s what I was interested in," Scofield explains. In that spirit, he effortlessly pulls Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away” from a hat, giving an edgy and laid-back rendition of the hit Holly wrote six years after Scofield was born. John reaches even further back with Hank Williams’ “You Win Again," released when Scofield was just a year old, in 1952. John’s main emphasis throughout the years, however, has remained his deep commitment to the jazz tradition, and here he grabs a number of standards off the rack and gives them unique interpretations. His comments on each song are included in the liner notes accompanying this release, where he reveals his fondness for Kenny Dorham’s take on “It Could Happen to You." John’s own version is a swinging affair with a deft key-change halfway through. He also reminisces about his first recording date, backing up Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker on “There Will Never Be Another You” and his pass at the song proves a nimble and compact adventure. An especially minimalist take on the Arthur Johnston and Sam Coslow-penned “My Old Flame” follows – John turns off the loop machine for this one. The guitarist has filled a fair share of albums with his own writing – its tuneful qualities and inviting singability having the same timeless character as jazz standards. “I never think about ideas when I write music," John reflects. "Instrumental music exists in a different part of your brain, it’s not about an idea that can be described with language or visually. Music exists in its own place." His compositions are among the highlights of this set: Scofield renders “Honest I Do," which he originally wrote and recorded in 1991, into a soulful ballad, explored with experimental guitar tones. “Mrs. Scofield’s Waltz” is dedicated to his wife, who in turn gave “Since You Asked," a song John initially recorded with Joe Lovano in 1990, its name. “More of a feeling than an actual composition” – in the words the guitarist – “Trance Du Hour” is his “version of '60s jazz à la Coltrane." It maintains the same high level of energy as his blues “Elder Dance” does. Along with traditionals “Danny Boy” and “Junco Partner," John delivers a haunting and somewhat oblique interpretation of Keith Jarrett’s “Coral” – Scofield’s version doesn’t introduce the song’s main theme until the very end. They complete this graceful solo venture, recorded in Katonah, New York in August 2021. John Scofield’s ECM appearances to date include two albums with Marc Johnson’s Bass Desires group – Bass Desires (recorded 1985) and Second Sight (1987) – in which the guitarist shared frontline duties with Bill Frisell. On Shades of Jade (2004), a third Marc Johnson album, Scofield is heard alongside frequent colleague Joe Lovano. The live double album Saudades (recorded in 2004), meanwhile, features Scofield as a member of Trio Beyond, alongside Jack DeJohnette and Larry Goldings, reassessing the songbook of Tony Williams’ Lifetime. After 2020’s Swallow Tales, John Scofield is the guitarist’s second ECM recording as a leader. John Scofield | John Scofield ECM Release Date: May 6, 2022 For more information on ECM, please visit: ECMRecords.com | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter ‌ ‌ ‌ # # #

Pianist Milen Kirov Infuses American Jazz with European Classical, Bulgarian Folk Traditions on "Spatium," Due June 3 from ICSM Records Solo Piano Album Features 13 Original Pieces Fusing the Three Styles, Including Three Fully Notated Compositions, Two Complete Improvisations CD Release Show at Sam First Bar, Los Angeles, Fri. 6/3 April 6, 2022 Pianist Milen Kirov finds the perfect formula with the June 3 release of Spatium on Independent Creative Sound and Music (ICSM) Records. A solo piano performance of 13 originals, the album is precisely the melting pot of styles that has long been the focus of the multi-dimensional Kirov’s creative journey. “My goal is to find the meeting point of three traditions: Western classical music, American jazz and blues, and Bulgarian traditional music,” the native Bulgarian pianist says. “There is no higher compliment for me than to be told these sounds merge together seamlessly in my playing.” Let the high compliments commence, then. Kirov not only strikes the delicate balance he seeks, but does so with such ease and aplomb that the three traditions sound as if they have always belonged together. For evidence, look no further than Spatium’s opening one-two punch, “Back to Bulgaria” and “Bulgarian Stride.” The former combines Bulgarian folk melody and classical precision with jazz’s rhythmic nuance and improvised playfulness, while the latter matches the stride piano tradition to the detailed latticework of Eastern European musics. “Thracian Blues” also sums up Kirov’s aesthetic, playing two pianos (one prepared and sounding like a guitar) to generate down-home blues lines, Bulgaria’s distinctive odd-meter dance rhythms, and bravura classical passages. In addition, Kirov performs Brahms-inspired four “Intermezzos” that are also infused with Bulgarian folk rhythms and jazz harmonies and improvisation. One of these, however, is fully notated—as are two other tracks on the album (“Pharos” and “The Shepherd and the Mountain”). The pianist offsets these with two thoroughly improvised pieces (“For Grandma” and “Time”), showing that his fluency in the jazz tradition is equal to those of the conservatory and his homeland. Not to be overlooked is the album’s gorgeous sound. Now based in Los Angeles, Kirov nevertheless traveled to the city of Radom, in central Poland, to record Spatium in the glorious acoustics of the Kryzstof Penderecki Concert Hall. Capturing the tenderness, nuance, and resonance of every note Kirov plays, the album’s pristine sonics reinforce the perfection of the pianist’s delicate musical balance. Milen Kirov was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria on February 6, 1977, the scion of an esteemed musical family. His mother plays the tambura and sings; his father is a virtuoso of the gadulka, a traditional Bulgarian fiddle, as well as an accomplished musical academic. Milen was only four when he entered the family business, studying the piano and working on ear training until by the age of eight he could accompany his father and his friends and colleagues in the family home. Thus grounding in Bulgarian traditional music, Milen turned to a formal classical education, graduating from both the High School of Music and Plovdiv’s highly regarded Academy of Music, Dance, and Fine Arts. Along the way, however, he discovered American music: blues, jazz, rock, and pop, all of which gained currency in Eastern Europe after the Iron Curtain fell in 1989. These idioms impressed Milen enough that he sought out an American musical education. Enrolling first in the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (where he received a full scholarship), Kirov later transferred to the more experimentally minded California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), where he studied with David Rosenboom and Vicki Ray, earning a BFA and a Doctor of Musical Arts there as well as a Master’s in composition from Cal State Northridge. Kirov was then able to find a niche for himself in the busy music scene of Los Angeles. Along with his professorship at Los Angeles City College, he performs and records in a variety of contexts, including a number of film scores; classical piano pieces; his Balkan funk ensemble, Orkestar MÉZÉ; and his world-jazz trio Bulgarian Moonshine Co. The pianist cites a deep connection to Milcho Leviev, a jazz great from his hometown of Plovdiv who paved the way from Eastern Europe to Los Angeles. “I feel a strong kinship with Milcho,” says Kirov, who knew him from an early age but didn’t see him perform until Leviev returned to Bulgaria in the early 1990s. “It was as though he was speaking to me, validating what I was doing. It was through his playing that I recognized that jazz combined with Bulgarian folk and other traditional sounds could be good music and legitimate.” Milen Kirov will be performing a CD release show (solo piano) at Sam First Bar, Los Angeles, on Friday 6/3 (7:30 & 9:00pm). Photography: Rumen Kurtev Milen Kirov EPK - "Spatium"  Milen Kirov Web Site ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Thanks, MG! Great to see you back. ***** As a kid, I got lectured to for only doing the bare minimum to complete a task. As an engineer, I get paid to do just that.

My boss told me to have a good day, so i went home.

If money doesn't grow on trees, then why do banks have branches? Why do caregiver and caretaker mean the same thing? When lightning strikes the ocean, why don't all the fish die? Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii? Why do we sing "Rock a bye baby" to lull a baby to sleep, when the song is about putting your baby in a tree and letting the wind crash the cradle onto the ground? Why do we put suits in a garment bag, and put garments in a suitcase?

Anything by Roy DuNann! Congrats, Mike!

Nucleus - Live at the BBC (12 CDs listed) $77.50 with free shipping https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09GTGRFRZ 63.49 GBP https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09GTGRFRZ ***** It has been quite some time sine I have seen any "sold by Amazon" CDs listed on the Amazon UK website. Has Amazon UK stopped selling CDs, or are they just hiding them from me because I am in the US? Are you guys in England seeing this as well? This is important because the VAT is subtracted from the price of "sold by Amazon UK" CDs, and that was quite a discount.

That's great!

"Now my grandfather, he knew the exact day of the year that he was going to die. It was the right year too. Not only that, but he knew what time he would die that day, and he was right about that too." "Wow, that's Incredible. How did he know all of that?" "A judge told him."

Larry, does that mean that you enjoyed new cash-paying customers last year? I remember reading a Mose Allison interview in which he said he received a negative royalty for the quarter. He said that no one bought any of his records, and two people brought back their albums and demanded their money back! TTK, I'll buy one!

"That wife of mine is a liar," said the angry husband to a sympathetic pal seated next to him in the bar. "How do you know?" the friend asked. "She didn't come home last night. When I asked her where she'd been, she said that she had spent the night with her sister Shirley." "So?" "So she's a liar. I spent the night with her sister Shirley."

When my son graduated from high school, he had to give a speech. He began by reading from his prepared text. 'I want to talk about my mother and the wonderful influence she has had on my life,' he told the audience. 'She is a shining example of parenthood, and I love her more than words could ever do justice.' At this point he seemed to struggle for words. He looked up and said, 'Sorry, but it's really hard to read my mother's handwriting.'