Reciprocal Uncles with Ove Volquartz | Glance and Many Avenues | Amirani Records

Reciprocal Uncles started in 2009 is already a brand for Amirani Records and delighted audiences in Europe and Usa. Started by the sparklin collaboration between Gianni Lenoci and Gianni Mimmo, the duo has performed in Italy, Germany, Uk, Belgium and in USA in two different tours. Their first album is sold out and has been widely recognized by reviewers all over the planet. Continue reading

Eilon Paz | The Dust & Grooves Book

Eilon Paz’s 416-page coffee-table book illuminates over 130 vinyl collectors and their collections in the most intimate of environments—their record rooms. With a foreword by the RZA, compelling photographic essays are paired with in-depth interviews to illustrate what motivates record collectors to keep digging for more records. Readers get an up close and personal look at a variety of well-known vinyl champions as well as a glimpse into the collections of known and unknown DJs, producers, record dealers, and everyday enthusiasts. The book is divided into two main parts: the first features 250 full-page photos framed by captions and select quotes, while the second consists of 12 full-length interviews that delve deeper into collectors’ personal histories and vinyl troves. Continue reading

Cal Haines Trio | The Bright Side

In 2005, Lewis Winn composed “Count Me In” after seeing a Basie band video. The fast-moving line that has him and Michael playing like a horn section pays homage to the swinging sound. There is an unusual element similar to a shout chorus where guitar and drums “solo” together, launching the remaining guitar solo. “So Near, So Far” had to be on my first CD because I tried but couldn’t get any band I’m in to play the tune. The guitar counter-melody is a joyous line against which to play the afro-cuban 12/8 rhythm, and the Joe Gilman lyrics gave new interpretations to the meaning of the title. Michael’s 2008 “Middle Side Topwise” uses the changes to a familiar standard as a vehicle for the bass and borrows a quote from the Simpsons for the title. Continue reading

Cal Haines | John Rangel | Michael Glynn | Tribute Trio | Dedications Vol. II

BEST JAZZ CD 2013 NEW MEXICO MUSIC AWARDS The outcome of two years of concert performances and a sequel to the historically focused straight-ahead swinging tunes of Volume I, the new CD is perhaps more forward-looking in its theme of tributing the ideas of jazz. The original compositions are by each of the trio members, some in collaboration. They reflect both the further gelling of the trio in their dynamics and the conceptual growth of the group. Songs such as “Not So Easy” and “Horace-Play” have clear ties to styles heard in the music of Bobby Timmons and Horace Silver, but “Time” is a tribute to the flow in the changes of the great song, “Just In Time.” There is a worldly jazz concept in “A Time for Parting”. Volume II accurately displays the Tribute Trio musicians’ personal compositional styles, while still incorporating learnings from the legends. The range includes swing, ballads and some unique odd-meter tunes. Continue reading

Cal Haines | John Rangel | Michael Glynn | Tribute Trio | Dedications Vol. I

BEST JAZZ CD 2012 NEW MEXICO MUSIC AWARDS The original compositions in this Tribute Trio debut CD were inspired by the melodies, styles, rhythms, and arrangements of some of the 11 composers tributed in the 2010-2011 concert series. Pianist and prolific composer John Rangel dedicates compositions to Oscar Peterson, Bud Powell, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner and Bill Evans. Bassist Michael Glynn composed two pieces dedicated to Lennie Tristano. The composer notes inside the CD jacket give insight into the connection between the tributed composer and the inspired composition. The music showcases the depth of individual musicianship and extraordinary combined dynamics of the trio gained from a solid year of delving into and performing concerts of complex works by jazz pianist/composer legends. Continue reading

Chris Weller’s Hanging Hearts | Chris Weller | Cole DeGenova | Devin Drobka

Chris Weller’s Hanging Hearts formed 2013, is a dynamic musical trio dedicated to the fearless exploration of group improvisation. Their music, organic and raw, bridges the gap between jazz, rock, and experimental music. The band features it’s leader Chris Weller on tenor saxophone and compositions, Cole DeGenova on keyboards, and Devin Drobka on drums. While Chris and Cole grew up in Chicago, playing professionally in jazz and blues clubs by the age of 15, the trio was completed at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where all three members graduated. While the trio’s repertoire consists mostly of Weller’s original compositions, they are also known to deconstruct popular songs and freely improvise. Continue reading

Mofrancesco Quintetto | Maloca

MoFrancesco Quintetto The project was born at the end of the academic year 2010/11 of the degree in Jazz Music at ESML, Escola Superior de Musica de Lisboa. On the occasion of the last recital of Francesco Valente, on 28/06/11, this quintet has emerged that exhibited with original compositions. Following training began acting in Lisbon in several places where there is a weekly Jazz agenda, and began to act also outside this context (Italian Film Festival, Volvo Ocean Race, Universidade Nova with David Murray, Quinta da Regaleira Jazz etc.). In this past year the quintet have recorded his first album “Maloca”, wich it was released by Art of Life Records. The Quintet proposes a modern jazz and fusion music with Mediterranean and Iberian classic and traditional music. The aim is to join the universal language of jazz music and an array improvisative original arrangements and also expressing the essence of the music from the land of origin of the musicians, in particular different styles and sounds of the Mediterranean. Continue reading

Satoko Fujii Orchestra New York | Shiki | Libra Records

Composer-pianist Satoko Fujii always writes large ensemble music that’s celebratory, eventful, and sweeping in scale. But for this album, she wanted to make “something beyond. I don’t know how I can explain. I wanted to paint a picture that extends beyond its canvas. I composed for life, which has many stages and changes and dramas.” “Shiki,” the nearly forty-minute magnum opus that comprises two-thirds of this CD, does indeed reach for “something beyond.” In the hands of the Satoko Fujii Orchestra New York, the big band she’s maintained for recording projects since 1997, the music rises off the pages of the score and confronts us, consoles us, challenges us to feel and to contemplate ultimate questions. Rooted in life, Satoko’s insights into the human condition are passed through her unique artistic vision and back into our lives to enrich us with its wisdom. “Shiki” is a Japanese word that translates as “four seasons” in English and the music is as changeable as the wind and weather. “I wanted a title that suggested change,” she says. “I think we human being also have seasons in our life.” The composition is one of her grandest pieces of musical architecture. Soaring arches of melody are supported by great anchoring columns of orchestra chords and a subtly textured floor of ensemble drones underpins much of it. — Ed Hazell Continue reading

Gianni Mimmo | Alison Blunt | Lasting Ephemerals | Amirani Records

The last album in this series is not really about seasons but also about the passing of time, or even the opposite concept, in which the most fragile and volatile and transitory, gets a timeless nature. Gianni Mimmo on soprano sax and Alison Blunt on violin treat us to some ephemeral beauty on this LP with three fully improvised pieces, recorded live at the St Leonard’s Shoreditch Church in London, in June 2013.It is hard to describe the music as jazz, and although Mimmo’s legacy is clearly with Steve Lacy, his sound and musical approach is truly his own, more abstract, classical at times in the clarity of his tone, yet audacious and explorative too. The spontaneous interaction with Blunt is nothing short of fabulous, almost organic, like birds, delivering soaring love songs, or fluttering agitatedly, or even stronger, like more intimate whispers, cautious touching of notes, moving forward gently and elegantly together. Blunt herself has the same spontaneous attitude for superb control of timbre and sound, while remaining utterly free in her inventiveness. Even in the rawest parts they find each other well, echoing improvised phrases, and creating sharp multiphonics if needed, before falling back on more gentle embraces.A marvelous duo. — Steff GijsselsFreejazzblog. Continue reading