Recording News

Dan Andersen's CD "The Spark" Available Now!

Source: Daniel Andersen
December 20, 2010

The Spark is the exciting debut CD from jazz guitarist and composer Dan Andersen. This highly interactive quartet features the artistry of pianist Alan Pasqua, bassist Ryan McGillicuddy, and drummer James Alsanders. Together they explore striking original compositions as well the works of Billy Stayhorn and Bill Evans. You can purchase The Spark directly form danandersen.com or CD Baby.

Dan Andersen Article Published in Revista Electrónica de LEEME—Journal of Music in Education

Dan Andersen's article, Jazz Guitar Improvisation: ...

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Empresarios "Sabor Tropical" Out 1/11/11 on Fort Knox Recordings

Source: Press Junkie PR
December 19, 2010

Fort Knox Recordings is proud to present Sabor Tropical (out January 11, 2011), the debut album from The Empresarios. The band was originally introduced on the 2009 label compilation The New Gold Standard 2, with infectious tunes that just begged to be remixed and reworked. The Empresarios are the first new artist to release their own full-length album on the ever-growing Fort Knox roster. With Sabor Tropical, they have set the bar very high for the new generation of artists ...

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Japan's Kodo Celebrates 30 Years with New Album & North American Tour

Source: rock paper scissors, inc.
December 17, 2010

Sacred Trees, Demon Dances, and a Bold Beat: Japan's Kodo Comes to North America with Innovative New Pieces and Staging, January-March 2011 Drums did more than make music in Japanese tradition. They were valuable tools found at every shrine. They marked the physical and metaphorical edge of a village: If you could hear them beat, you were part of the community. Kodo, Japan's preeminent performing artsensemble, has lived this principle for thirty years, using thundering, soothing sounds that turn audiences ...

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Antoinette Montague Releases "Behind the Smile" on in the Groove Label

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services
December 16, 2009

New York, NY—Newark New Jersey native Antoinette Montague has come of age with her upcoming release Behind The Smile on In The Groove, distributed through Allegro Music. The album is set for release February 9, 2010.

The Behind The Smile album is a showcase for the vocalist' diverse range and abilities to take an R & B based tune and turn it into a jazz and pop classic. Veteran musicians Bill Easley (sax, flute, and clarinet), Mulgrew Miller (piano), Peter ...

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Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Ségal: Cellos on the Niger, Koras on the Seine

Source: rock paper scissors, inc.
December 16, 2010

Cellos on the Niger, Koras on the Seine: Chamber Music Discovers Unexpected Strains of African Lyricism and European Funk

When kora-player Ballaké Sissoko approached French cellist Vincent Ségal after a show, Ségal never suspected that he'd find himself several years later on the banks of the Niger, digging into African music's introspective side with a virtuosic Malian bard. He never imagined that the curious duo would discover striking similarities in their music and lives, creating a free space for cross-cultural ...

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Maria Neckam - Deeper (2010)

Source: Something Else!
December 16, 2010

By Mark Saleski One way to define a categorical number line of female jazz vocalists would be to put artists like Ella Fitzgerald (full of insistent smolder, fire & brimstone) at one end, and balance that with voices of pure subtlety at the other—Billie Holiday, Shirley Horn, and maybe even Norah Jones. This construct is unsatisfying, partially because nearly every singer has elements taken from either end of the scale. So what to do? Maybe the answer lies in ignoring ...

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Forgotten Series: Lucinda Williams - Essence (2001)

Source: Something Else!
December 15, 2010

By Nick DeRiso Lucinda Williams brings a brave, riveting vulnerability to Essence—and, for me, it's her masterpiece. Yet you are more apt to find it in the big-box department-store cutout bin than at the top of most people's desert-island lists. Perhaps the sensual melancholy of Essence was too personal, maybe it held too much dark intrigue. She takes chances lyrically, and there's this hard-bitten musical sparseness, notable in the wake of 1998's more narrative Grammy-winning breakthrough “Car Wheels on a ...

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In the Mood for James Moody

Source: Riffs on Jazz by John Anderson
December 15, 2010

On hearing of the recent death of saxophonist and flutist James Moody, many casual jazz listeners may be seeking out his music for the first time. One of my personal favorite albums of his is At the Jazz Workshop (GRP, 1961), recorded here in San Francisco, which I believe serves as a wonderful sampling of Moody's many talents. The recording is a live date that emphasizes the blues but also incorporates some fine ballad playing. The ensemble is a septet—Moody, ...

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