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Posi-Tone Swingtet: In Jazz We Trust
by Joshua Weiner
The Posi-Tone Records label, founded and run by producer Marc Free and engineer Nick O'Toole, celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2025. Given the many upheavals in the music business since 1995--the rise of file sharing, the introduction of iTunes, iPod, and iPhone, the decline of the compact disc concomitant with the rise of streaming services, the shrinking influence of major labels with the rise of self-released music, and the recent rediscovery of vinyl--the label is justly proud not only to ...
Continue ReadingPosi-Tone Swingtet: In Jazz We Trust
by Dan Bilawsky
In the mid-'90s, when Posi-Tone released its first album, the recording industry landscape was completely different than it is today. Small independent labels were not the norm, every artist did not have their own imprint and Napster had yet to arrive to kick off the access revolution. It was, quite simply, a different world--one where label co-founder Marc Free was poised and able to transform a dream into reality by shining a light on established players deserving a closer look ...
Continue ReadingWillie Morris: Unbound Inner
by Willie Morris
This album is a culmination of much more than just the compositions, the solos, or the time spent in the studio. It is the coming together of many years of life experience between the musicians featured, the producers, the engineers, and hopefully the listeners. It is a small piece added to an ongoing stream of conscious and unconscious desire to find peace within and fully allow ourselves to embody and express who we are. This music centers on people, their ...
Continue ReadingLisa Hilton: Lucky All Along
by Mike Jurkovic
Throughout the course of her quietly triumphant, just south-of-the-spotlight, virtuoso career, pianist/composer Lisa Hilton has never actively pursued, Captain Ahab-like, the biggest fish in the sea. She has played alongside many of the biggies--Christian McBride, Antonio Sanchez, Nasheet Waits, Sean Jones, JD Allen--but finds the greatest comfort, harmony, and camaraderie among her long-standing rhythm mates: bassist Luques Curtis, drummer Rudy Royston and, for their third quartet recording, trumpeter Igmar Thomas. Hilton does a lot of pretty things with a simple Latin sway ...
Continue ReadingLisa Hilton: Lucky All Along
by Neil Duggan
Another Lisa Hilton album, and for many the world seems a better place. Lucky All Along is the pianist's 30th release, proving that it can take a long time to be considered a jazz success story. Her blend of jazz, Latin, pop and blues means she counts the number of plays on streaming services in the millions and her albums bother the top of those charts which count radio plays and numbers of downloads. She is not considered particularly hip ...
Continue ReadingDiego Rivera: Ofrenda
by David A. Orthmann
Tenor and soprano saxophonist Diego Rivera has amassed an impressive track record on the Posi-Tone imprint as a leader, sideman, and other projects curated by producer Marc Free. Ofrenda, a ten-movement suite, is a vehicle for Rivera's impressions of aspects of altars corresponding with the traditional Mexican holiday Día De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead). In essence, an ofrenda is usually created by and placed in the home of the family of a person who has passed away.
Continue ReadingDiego Rivera: Ofrenda
by Kyle Simpler
El Dia de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) is a time to honor deceased loved ones. Although the holiday originated in Mexico, many other cultures have embraced the tradition. One of its traditional features is an ofrenda, which is a traditional altar, generally placed in the home, containing several different items ranging from food to religious items. To an outsider, the celebration might seem somber and mournful, but this is not entirely the case. El Dia de los ...
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