Recording News

Water from Gregory Porter

Source: Giant Step
July 12, 2010

New jazz artist Gregory Porter exhibits such vocal mastery that no less a jazz luminary than Wynton Marsalis has gone on record to call him “a fantastic young singer." The debut album, Water, is out now on Motema Music.

For the recording of Water, Gregory Porter tapped a powerful cadre of strong players, among them the iconic alto saxophonist James Spaulding (Max Roach, Freddie Hubbard, and Bobby Hutcherson, et al). The album consists of original songs, with musical references to ...

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Loren Stillman - Winter Fruits (Pirouet)

Source: Master of a Small House
July 12, 2010

Oranges in February? Not a likely find outside the confines of the local supermarket. Rare too are the jazz ensembles containing an organ that opt to work largely outside the ingrained soul jazz traditions of the instrument. Altoist Loren Stillman hits the challenge head-on, though it's not exactly a new avenue of expression in his discography. The instrumentation also has origins in The Brother's Breakfast, a Stillman disc for Steeplechase that also marked his first collaboration with organist Gary Versace ...

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Portland, Or's Blue Cranes Release 3rd Album of Indie-Tinged Chamber Music, "Observatories," September 14, 2010

Source: Fully Altered Media
July 12, 2010

It takes a minute for a band to hurdle growth spurts and become the eloquent ensemble it hopes to be. But striving for a truly individual sound, one that depends on the contributions of each member is a noble goal. After three years as a quintet with two saxophones up front, Blue Cranes have achieved such a victory. They prove it with Observatories.

On its third album, everything gels for the acclaimed instrumental outfit from Portland, Oregon. Working that thin ...

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Album Leaks: Are Tuesday's Gone with the Wind?

Source: HypeBot
July 12, 2010

TIME ran a story this morning on album leaks; the topic is interesting to me because it highlights a shift that happened within my lifetime.  Prior to the web and the social epidemic of file-sharing, Tuesday was the holy grail of the record industry.  New albums came about that day. Yet, in recent years, if I've heard about a new album and want to hear it, sometimes even months before the street date, I just search for it on YouTube ...

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Billboard Reviews John Evans & Dream's, "The Winding Road"

Source: Michael Ricci
July 10, 2010

BILLBOARD: JOHN EVANS & DREAM, “The Winding Road" Composer/arranger John Evans has been a master of smooth jazz for some 30 years, since he helped escort veteran saxophonist David Sanborn to RIAA gold with the composition “Creeper." His previous solo release “Dream," was an unqualified smash, where it topped the CD Baby sales chart in 2007 and remained in the top 10 of its Smooth Jazz Album chart for more than two years.

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Brass Menazeri: Songs in 7/8, Fat Bass Lines & High Speed Horn Antics

Source: rock paper scissors, inc.
July 9, 2010

Sousaphones, Super Fly, and 7/8: Brass Menazeri's Bumping Brass Party Grooves from Bosnia to Bollywood

Bosnian gems mingle with Bollywood bangles, while Rromani (Gypsy) hits mix with super-fly funk. Thanks to dreamed melodies and down-and-dirty bass lines, Brass Menazeri has been packing Mission bars with a heady mix of Balkan perfection and Bay Area eccentricity, of serious chops and serious joy, for years.

Now on Vranjski San (Porto Franco Records; August 10, 2010)¸ the brass band with attitude breaks out ...

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The Raga Bop Trio Reaches Across and Beyond Cultural and Musical Lines On Debut Album On Abstract Logix

Source: Souvik Dutta
July 9, 2010

Composed of veteran rock and jazz/fusion drummer Steve Smith (Journey, Vital Information, and innumerable rock, pop, and R&B sessions), saxophonist and composer George Brooks (Summit, Bombay Jazz with Larry Coryell), and guitarist and composer Prasanna, the Raga Bop Trio play a fluidly inventive music that bravely and insightfully combines improvisational traditions from around the world. Drawing upon the urgency and harmonic density of jazz, the rhythmic complexity and melodic richness of classical Indian music (encompassing both Northern and Southern traditions), ...

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Foltz/ Turner/ Carrothers - To the Moon (Ayler)

Source: Master of a Small House
July 9, 2010

Music has long been a useful implement in the evocation of place. That hoary relationship registers at the forefront of this set, recorded at the height of winter in icebound Minneapolis in 2008. Clarinetist Jean-Marc Foltz mentions the “lovely, freezing cold day" that precipitated the completely spontaneous sounds. Cellist Matt Turner, an unsung improviser and native of the region has such climatic corollaries in his blood. Pianist Bill Carrothers is comparably attuned and all three men build austere and pristine ...

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